
Class. 



Book„ 







Qpifi. 



THE OLD STATE HOUSE 



IS GONE, BUT 



ARE SELLING 

Flour, Grain and Feed, 



AS WELL AS 



Fox" Stal>le Ke deling-, at 

2 f Mtney Aifiine. Railroafl f arehonse, 431 East St. 





E. 11 SHELDON & CO. 

Staffori Ml 393 State St, 




ij I 



mil 




BOOK PRINTING 



THE 



lEVV HAVEN STATE HOUSE 



WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF 



THE GREEN 



And Varfous Matters of Historical and Local Interest, Gathered 

FROM Many Sources. 



/A 



.'-V 



PUBLISHED BY 

HENRY PECK and GEORGE H. COE, 

NEW HAVEN, CONN. 

1889. 



COPYRIGHT, 1889. 

BY 

HENRY PECK and GEO. H. COE. 



^T 



K. B. Sheldon & Co.. 

Eleclrotjpers and Printers, 

New Haven, Conn. 



DEDICATED TO SUCH OF OUR ANCESTORS AS WERE 

BURIED IN NEW HAVEN GREEN, FOR WHOM 

THERE IS NO MONUMENTAL STONE, AND 

WHOSE NAMES ARE NOT UPON 

ANY PAGE OF A PUBLIC 

RECORD. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

The State House . . . . . . . . 1 1 

The Parthenon ....... 14 

The First Methodist Church . , . . . .49 

Diagrams of the State House ..... 57, 59, 61 

The Elm Tree and the Green . . . , . -65 

The Green in 1720 ........ 69 

The Green in 1800 ....... 

Sabbaday Houses ........ 

The Second State House ...... 

Octagonal Burying Ground . ..... 

The Falling Columns — North End ..... 

The South End and West Side in Ruins . . , .147 

The Green in 1S50 . . . . , , , ,167 



139 
139 
139 
139 
'45 



PREFACE. 



The author and compiler takes .the opportunity to thank those 
elderly citizens who have furnished from memory some of the facts 
and incidents which have been worked into this rather Mosaic 
production, and thanks are also given to the Palladiwti, Journal a7id 
Courier, and Register for the use of their files. To his old news- 
paper friends, who have shown a kindly interest in his work, assur- 
ances are hereby given that their manifestations of good-will have 
been appreciated. 

While it was thought inexpedient to attempt a chronological order 
in the arrangement of the matter laid before the reader, care has 
been taken that the dates and names mentioned should be as accu- 
rate as possible. 

Hexrv Peck. 



Two Great Mistakes ! 



Tlie g-i'oatest itii«talie e^-er iiiacle toy IVeAV 
tioii of* tlie State House. 



IS IN SUPPOSING THAT 



B. BOOTH 

HAS ONLY SECOND HAND AND AUCTION GOODS AT 

388, 890 and 392 Btate Bt. 

Those who thus think do themselves an injustice, and suffer loss through their 
own neglect to examine his stock of 

liT e TXT- ^-u-mituLre, 

COVERING THOUSANDS OF SQUARE FEET OF HIS 

FOUR STORY FURNITURE EMPORIUM, 

which can be bought for less money than the same quality of goods can be had 
from any other dealer. Heis an Auctioneer. He sells at auction every SATUR- 
DAY CONSIGNED GOODS of every description; but all consigned and 
second-hand goods have their own special department, aside from his regular 
stock of New Furniture. 

MR. BOOTH HAS PRODUCED TWO VALUABLE THINGS. 

BOOTH'S UNIVERSAL FURNITURE POLISH 

AND A 

Valixal>le I^eiiiecl^^ foi- Oom». 

Botli Of these leet witli geueral fayor, A trial liottle of tlie Corn 
RemoTer can lie liart for TEN CENTS. 



THE 



HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE 



A COMPLETE history of the State Houses which have stood upon New 
Haven's market-place or Green, would be a record of nearly all the 
important events of a local character during a period of about two 
hundred and fifty years, and ending in 1889. The reader of such a 
history would be able to discern the progress of our town in its 
social, religious and business affairs — its changes of opinion and 
improvement in general intelligence — its advancement in knowledge, 
religious illumination, industrial enterprise and literary, musical and 
art culture. It would be a record of prosperity and reasonable 
reward for honorable labor, not unbroken by interpolations of stories 
of panic and calamity. To the reader would incidentally appear the 
broadening, liberalizing effects wrought by successive movements of 
common interest. Fidelity to tradition — love of ancestral honor and 
justice — these are distinctive elements of life in New Haven to-day, 
no less than in the earliest years of our commonwealth. The trans- 
planted vine hath indeed flourished, its fruitage being fairer and 
sweeter than even the forecasting of those who confidently and 
prayerfully believed in the declaration, Qui Tf-anstulit Siistinet. 

The first State House, built in 1717, was located on the Green, not 
far from the corner of Elm and College streets, and in the building 
were accommodated the courts. Near this structure was the jail. 
In 1763 the " new brick " State House was erected upon the Green, 

7 



8 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

a short distance north of Trinity Church, the steps projecting into 
Temple Street. A part of the first floor was used as a dining and 
ball room, and on the same floor were the court and jury rooms. The 
upper house of the General Assembly occupied the south room, and 
the lower house the north room of the second floor. The prudence 
and economy of our forefathers are revealed in their official action in 
connection with the taxation inseparable from payment of the bills 
for constructing the building. The County Court, in 1761, appointed 
a committee to represent to the Legislature that the two halfpenny 
rates on the county and the penny rate on the town for the purpose 
of paying for the building, were more than sufficient for the building 
of a house sufficient for the county, and in this action they had the 
moral support of the civil authority, who, January 10, 1763, refused 
to lay any further tax. The objection of the court and civil author- 
ity prevailed not, however, for the Legislature, sitting at Hartford, 
May, 1763, directed that there should be a tax laid of one penny on 
the pound to finish the State House at New Haven, and at a special 
session of the County Court, held June 28, 1763, this tax was ordered 
to be laid, according to the direction of the General Assembly. 

If but little space is given in this book to the story of the two 
Stale Houses which preceded the one which in this pleasant mid- 
summer of 1889 is being removed from the Green, it should be 
borne in mind that during the past sixty years the pages of the Book 
of Time have been filled with many momentous matters. Life has 
moved faster than in former days, and however significant were the 
discussions and deeds of the four half centuries antedating this, it is 
probably true that the most glorious and important part of New 
Haven's historical record will be found by a study of conditions and 
happenings known and remembered by various citizens who have 
contributed to this memorial. 

The General Assembly at its May session, 1827, passed the reso- 
lution that it was expedient and necessary that a new State House 
for the accommodation of the General Assemblv should be built at 
New Haven. In accordance with the provisions of the resolution, 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 9 

the Court of New Haven County ordered the clerk to issue notices 
to the several representatives of the General Assembly, belonging to 
the towns of the county, to meet with the judges at New Haven, 
July 5, to take proper action. Dennis Kimberly and Charles A. 
Ingersoll were the representatives from this town, at the meeting. 
Votes imposing the necessary tax were passed, and one vote provided 
'* that said House contain a suitable court room, jury room and two 
lobbies for the accommodation of the courts and of the Bar, and also 
a room and a fire -proof vault for the use of the clerk of the County 
and Superior Courts." 

The city did not act so promptly, but at a Common Council meet- 
ing, held June 29, 1827, Hon. William Bristol, the mayor, being 
moderator, the resolutions of the General Assembly relative to the 
location and erection of a State House were read and votes were 
passed, to be laid before a freeman's meeting. At this meeting of 
the 29th of June, there were present the selectmen of the town, 
" likewise the Hon. William Moseley, who was appointed by the 
General Assembly of the State, one of the committee to contract and 
superintend the building." 

The following appears on the record of a Common Council meet- 
ing held October 3, 1827 : 

" Resolved, That it is expedient that a meeting of the citizens of the city of New 
Haven, be held on Saturday, the 13th of October, instant, at 2 o'clock P. M., to 
take into consideration the subject of the new State House." 

On the 3d of March, the city appears to have been getting ready 
for some kind of a change, as the Common Council voted " that 
Messrs. Caleb Brintnall and Henry Denison be a committee to at- 
tend to the tilling up the cellar of the old Court-house and that they 
cause the same to be done on the most advantageous terms at the 
expense of the city." What honorable member of the Common 
Council of the year 1889 is there, who would feel gratified by being 
appointed to such a service ? 

In the office of Henry Austin in the Hoadley Building, nearly 



THE STATE HOUSE GONE 



The City Market Remains. 



WE OFFER THE 



LARGEST AND BEST VARIETY 



OF— 



Choice Meats, Poultry, 

BUTTER, EGGS AND PROVISIONS 

TO BE FOUND IX THE STATE AT Ol'R STALLS IX 

Cer:Lxer of Cit37- ^Ia,rli:et, 

H. L. ANDREWS & CO. 

Our Prices are the Lowest the Market 

will permit of. 



12 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

opposite the post office, maybe seen an admirable portrait-bust of the 
architect of the 1829 State House — Ithiel Town — who was also the 
architect of the Center Church, on the Green. The bust was the 
work of a Connecticut artist, Chauncey Ives, who is living at Rome, 
where he has had a studio for many years. Mr. Town's classic taste 
had, at the time of making the plans for the State House, been much 
improved by foreign travel and a careful study of the famous build- 
ings of the Old World. His original plans for the State House, beauti- 
fully drawn and colored, are in the possession of Mr. Ausiin. These, 
together with various photographs and wood cut prints owned in 
different parts of the city, will in future years, be inspected witli 
great interest and profit. The plans are drawn to scale. Two views 
of the building show its purely Grecian character. At the north and 
south ends, respectively, six columns supported the roof of the por- 
tico. The extreme length of the edifice from the buttresses at each 
end was 182 feet ; length of main building from the pilasters, 130 
feet; width of the building, 90 feet. Outside of the buttresses 
the steps extended 15 feet. The columns were 7 feet in 
diameter and 40 feet high with their capitals. There were twelve 
windows in each side, besides windows lighting the basement. 

Whenever the beautiful proportions of New Haven's third State 
House have been pointed out to strangers visiting the city, it hns 
been the general habit of citizens to speak of the building .iis 
modeled after the Parthenon at Athens. This has been a mistake. 
Through the liberality of the publishers of "'The Building Budget," 
a journal of architecture and kindred arts, Chicago, 111., we are per- 
mitted to reprint from their electrotype a picture of that famous 
structure. 

The view is of the west front, restored. This magnificent build- 
ing dedicated to Pallas Athene was one of the largest and most 
beautiful temples in Greece. It was a peripteros with eight 
columns in front and seventeen at the sides, and a hypasthros with 
its interior columns in double tiers. The porticoes had two rows of 
columns each. The temple was*built by Ictinos and Callicrates 470 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 1 3 

B. c, and is 227 feet, 7 inches in length, by a width of loi feet, i 
inch. It presented the peculiarity that the usual corner pillars of 
the second row of columns in the porticos are substituted by col- 
umns. The outer columns are 35 feet 5 inches high by 6 feet 
I inch in diameter; those on the corner are two inches thicker. In 
ancient times the Parthenon was called Hecatompedon, because it 
had exactly 100 feet front according to Roman measure. The cella 
contained a magnificent statue of Minerva, by Phidias, made of the 
costliest materials, chiefly gold and ivory. The two gable fields 
were also richly adorned with sculptures. The groups in the west- 
tern gable fields had reference to the birth of Pallas Athene, 
while those of the eastern represented her contest with Neptune 
about the sway of the land. The panels in the external Doric 
entablature contained ninety-two bas-reliefs representing the wars of 
the Lapithae and the Centaurs, and the frieze around the cella and 
vestibule, which was upwards of 500 feet in length, bore sculptures 
representing the Panathencean games. The Parthenon was in excel- 
lent perservation up to the year 1687, when on the 28th of Septem- 
ber, the Venetians bombarded Athens, and a bomb penetrated the 
walls of the Parthenon and exploded in a powder magazine, kept 
there by the Turks. This noble building which had stood almost 
perfect for nearly two thousand years, was by this calamity reduced 
to a ruin, and with it perished the ever memorable remains of the 
genius of Phidias. The sculptures of the gable and frieze have been 
carried off by the English and are now in the collection of the 
British Museum. 

There is no doubt that Mr. Town had studied the architecture of 
the building, but his plans for the New Haven State House were 
more nearly like those for the Doric Temple, Theseus. The ingrati- 
tude of the factious Athenians, which resulted in the banishment and 
death of the great man in whose honor the temple was built, 
reacted upon the mind of the people in after years. The Athenians, 
remembering the valor and heroic deeds of Theseus, were led to do 
him honor, Many of those who had fought against the Medes at 



H 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 



Marathon, imagined that they saw his apparition, in complete armor, 
rushing before them into battle. After the conclusion of the war 
ao-ainst the Medes, the Athenians consulted the Oracle, and the 




Pythian priestess told them that they should bring back the bones of 
Theseus, deposit them honorably in the city, and with a religious 
observance, keep them there. After diligent search, the remains of 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. I 5 

the hero were found, together with the brazen point of a spear and a 
sword lying near. These were carried to Athens, where they were 
received by the citizens with splendid processions and sacrifices, as if 
the hero himself w-ere present. His remains were deposited in the 
middle of the city and the temple was built in his honor, by Pericles, 
in the fourth year of the seventy-fourth Olympiad, b. c. 467. The 
temple, which was afterward a church, dedicated to St. George, had 
six columns at the east end, thirteen showing on each side. It will 
be seen from this brief description that the New Haven State House 
presented in its two fronts a much greater resemblance to the 
Temple of Theseus than to the Parthenon. 

The building was placed twenty-two feet nearer the fence on the 
College Street side of the Green than to the Center Church. The 
east side of the building was built over the graves of a number of 
persons, as the ancient burial-place of the town extended westerly 
nearly to College street. The circumstance that the ground had 
been part of the graveyard, excited a number of the relations of per- 
sons deceased and there was a great deal of angry talk and unpleas- 
ant feeling at the disturbance of the graves. The discussion of this 
topic was carried on \vith considerable acerbity, in the Legislature, 
while a site was being considered, and great care was exercised by 
Isaac Thompson, who had the sub-contract for the mason work, and 
Charles Thompson, sub-contractor for the joiner work, not to unnec- 
essarily arouse the sensibilities of the survivors of friends buried 
there. The workmen in digging for a foundation came across 
numerous bones, and instead of exposing them to view, pounded 
them down into the earth. Some of the bones were, however, taken 
away for re-interment, and a citizen remembers assisting at the put- 
ting of the bones of a person who in life had been a Mr. Baldwin, a 
custom-house officer, into a box for conveyance elsewhither, most 
likely to the new city burial ground adjoining Grove Street on the 
southerly side. Long after the State House w\^s built and occupied, 
venturesome boys exploring the cellar, found the skulls of sonie of 
our ancestors. 



J. ID. IDET77"EI-iI-. <S^ CO. 



(Business Established 1850.) 




WHOLESALE GROCERS 



^]V1> 



IMPORTERS. 

DIRECT RECEIVERS OF 

FANCY PONCE MOLASSES, 

T^lii^l^s Island Salt, 

I3Cs-Tra-z2.SL Cig-sors, Etc., 

233 TO 239 STATE STREET, - - ■ - NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE, \'J 

The executive committee for contracting for the building of the 
State House consisted of William Moseley, Charles H. Pond and 
John Q. Wilson. Their names are signed upon the plans of Mr. 
Town as approved by them. Mr. Town came to New Haven from 
Boston. He lost money by taking the contract and by doing work 
for which he was not paid by the State. But he never blamed the 
executive committee, as its members were handicapped by the eco- 
nomical notions of the Legislature. 

No estimate can easily be made as to the cost of the State House 
since its foundations were laid. Hardly had it been accepted and 
finished, when additional work had to be done, and from then until 
its final removal money was every little while being spent on repairs. 
The first session of the Legislature offered an opportunity for the 
uutlay of more money, and $10,000 were appropriated to substitute 
marble for the wood steps at the ends of the building. The aggre- 
gate amount of money expended in alterations and repairs has been 
very large. The first cost was $42,000 in all, and two years passed 
away while it was under construction. 

In the spring of 183 1, Messrs. Moseley, Pond and Wilson, the 
building committee, made a report to the Legislature then in session. 
They said they had paid $4,000 toward the marble purchased at the 
Sing Sing prison ; $2,935.67 for work and erecting arches: $509.50 
toward" the freight on the Sing Sing marble, and $272.30 for cartage 
from the wharf to the State House. The committee say : 

" By the original contract with Mr. Town, the State House was to have been 
completed by the 14th day of September last [1830], but it is with regret and dis- 
appointment that the committee are obliged to represent to the General Assembly 
that the house is not yet finished. . . . The committee have been assured bv the 
agents of Mr. Town that the building will be finished in the month of June next." 

The committee were desirous of terminatins; their labors. Thev 
explain in their report a number of things, as, for instance: 

" The alterations in the original contract, which from time to time have been 
directed by the Legislature, by substituting marble for wood steps and buttresses; 
2 



I 8 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE 

by substituting marble flagging for platforms in the porticoes for those of brick, and 
brick arches having become necessary to support said platform they have been sub- 
stituted in place of wood supports, and by covering the basement story with marble 
instead of hydraulic cement, will necessarily cause some adjustments between the 
committee and the contractor which cannot well be arranged until the house is 

completed." 

• 

In one sense the house was never completed. The windows in 
the south end were not cut in until a few years ago, and there was 
some extensive repairing; when the building received a coat of new 
stucco and was radically renovated, somewhere in the early part of 
the fifties. The roof has been renew^ed at least once and has 
been repaired from time to time. 

The courts were all held in the State House until in April, 1861, 
Messrs. Alfred Blackman, John S. Beach, Charles R. Ingersoll, Nor- 
ton J. Buel, Dexter R. Wright and William B. Wooster were 
appointed a committee of the Bar to consider the expediency of 
removing the courts to the new City Hall, Church street, then 
nearly completed. Plans were prepared and the rooms were occu- 
pied at the December term, 1862. In a monograph by Arthur D. 
Osborne, president of the Second National Bank, but at the time, 
clerk of the Supreme and Superior Courts, we find the following : 

" The arrangement of this court room, which proved to be excellent, was chiefly 
devised by Hon. Alfred Blackman." 

'J'he first State House was used less than fifty years ; the second 
one only a little over sixty years, and the third one, commenced in 
1829, was removed from the Green the present year — having had a 
life of only sixty years. The removal was finished November 26, 
1889. More than 7,500 cart-loads of the material were taken away. 

Every citizen of comprehensive mind must remember the last 
State House, not altogether as a structure of brick and stone and 
stucco, built after the noblest of Grecian models, but rather as an 
object around which cluster hundreds of memories of happenings 
serving to illustrate in various ways, the attachment of the people to 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 1 9 

the principles of liberty, established at the beginning of our political 
existence. The events and scenes of the past sixty years are impor- 
tantly recalled in this rehabilitation of the building. Like a pano- 
ramic picture, pass in silent procession the forms of thousands of 
patriotic, fearless men who faithfully bore a part in the duties and 
responsibilities of government. And there are not wanting memory- 
visions of fair women who have moved through the crowded halls on 
pleasant errands of love and mercy, or who, in some leisure hour 
have brightened by their presence the assemblages of the representa- 
tives of the people on great public occasions. 

Wednesday, the 5th of May, was held the first session of the Gen- 
eral Assembly in the year 1830. Gov. Gideon Tomlinson arrived at 
Woodruff's tavern, four miles out on the Milford road, at four o'clock 
on the afternoon of Tuesday. Here he was met by official persons 
and citizens who were taking part in the inaugural ceremonies. 
Henry W. Edwards was that year Speaker of the House, and in 
returning thanks for the honor conferred upon him he took occa- 
sion to say among other things: "This splendid edifice erected by 
the State for the accommodation of the public, is now first occupied 
for the uses for which it was intended, and this, like any other 
improvement of any importance, naturally awakens recollections and 
leads us to one of those retrospects in which the people of this coun- 
try, more than any other on the face of the earth, are fond of indulg- 
ing." 

After the organization of the two Houses the governor was 
escorted by the Foot Guards, Captain Hotchkiss, and the City Artil- 
lery, Captain Durand, the whole under command of Major Can dee, 
from his lodgings to the State House, and thence, with the other 
branches of government, to the North Church, where an eloquent 
and practical discourse was delivered by Rev. Charles A. Boardman 
of this city, which was listened to by a large and attentive audience. 
From the church the governor was escorted to his lodgings, where 
his Excellency was saluted by the music and the firing of the mili- 
tary. This session of the Legislature was notable for the passage of 



20 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

what was denominated "The Universalist Bill," which allowed any- 
body who believed in a Supreme Being to testify in courts of justice. 
Representative Haley, of New London, made an effort to dispense 
with prayers in the House, explaining that he thought the members 
were elected for business and had no right to occupy their time in 
public devotions. In May, Governor Tomlinson was elected to serve 
six years in the United States Senate, from March, 1831. Two thou- 
sand five hundred dollars were appropriated to finish the State House. 
This was the year in which occurred an explosion on the steamboat 
U7uted States^ plyi"g between this city and New York, eight lives 
being lost. Two men named Wooster — father and son — were on 
board. The father died from a broken skull, but the son escaped 
uninjured. Hiram Clark, a respected New Haven merchant, lost his 
life. The accident happened on the nth of September. Noyes Dar- 
ling was appointed chief judge by the Legislature, and Jared Bassett 
"and William Hinman, associate judges for New Haven County. It 
was proposed at this session that the State should take from the towns 
their local control over clam and oyster beds, but the measure was 
thought inexpedient. 

While it is doubtless true that the body of the people are to-day as 
loyal to good government as when the third State House was opened 
for the inauguration of Governor Tomlinson, the " election day " 
customs and demonstrations are of quite a different character from 
what then existed. For days before the great annual event, the 
ladies of New Haven households made preparation for showing hos- 
pitality to the "stranger within our gates." Election cake was 
baked, the demijohns were refilled and the door-plates and knockers 
were made bright by rubbing with rotten stone, which as a commod- 
ity has long ago disappeared. Everybody kept holiday. Everybody 
treated or was treated and there was much jollity and consumption 
of good liquors. Country cousins crowded into the town for the 
double purpose of seeing the goings on and doing their annual trad- 
ing. The heart of the whole community beat in sympathetic glad- 
ness in this exemplification of the fact that the people knew how 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 21 

to govern themselves and with " none to molest or make them 
afraid." 

The first number of the New Haven FaHadii/fn made its appear- 
ance the 7th of September, 1829. It was devoted to literature, 
politics and miscellaneous reading, and it reported once a week, the 
arrivals and departures of boats on the canal. At this time A. H. 
Maltby was selling the beautiful " annuals " or gift books, first 
published in London, the like of which will never be printed again. 
Hardly any young girl was so friendless in those days that she had 
not lying on a table in the best room of the house, a copy with gilt 
edges, bound in handsomely colored leather, of " The Religious 
Souvenir," " The Amaranth," " The Christmas Keepsake," or some 
equally attractive book, in which were to be found lovely engravings. 
Those books were then very much in fashion. L. Stillman kept a 
furniture store on Orange street, a few rods south of the New Haven 
Bank; Hull, Townsend, Knevals & Co. were dry goods dealers and 
merchant tailors ; Munson & Co. carried on engraving in Bradley's 
building, corner of State and Chapel streets ; James Punderford 
dealt in leather, on Chapel Street ; J. L. Cross sold Sunday-school 
books ; George Robinson and Elford E. Jarman, respectively, kept 
dry goods stores ; Lines & Clinton carried on the furniture business 
on State, a few rods north of Chapel street ; Benjamin Beecher, 
Jr., sold -furniture at the old stand of Beecher &: Osborne ; M. Ao 
Durand kept a medicine store ; D, Ritter & Son made marble monu- 
ments. Other business concerns were those of Durrie & Peck, pub- 
lishers of books ; H. (Sc L. Hotchkiss, building material ; William 
Barker, boots and shoes; McCrackan »& Jarman, dry goods. The 
Palladium, which made war against the selling of lottery tickets, 
advanced the opinion that more money was paid into the six lottery 
offices on Church street than was received by all the dry goods 
stores of the city. It was in December of this year that a number of 
New Haven men memorialized Congress in opposition to Sunday 
mails, and that a lot on Sodom Hill was selected as a site for the 
State Hospital. 



RETROSPECTIVE. 

Over thirty years ago a young man came to the city to seek his fortune and 
has been seeking it ever since. There have been changes in thirty-three years. 
In 1856 there were no horse cars and Grand street was not an avenue. The 
Chapel Street Church stood on one corner of Chapel and Union streets, and 
opposite was the Post Office, where Prelate Demick cut sheets of postage stamps 
with shears. E. L. Ives sold toys, confectionery and small beer in the Adelphi, 
and on the fourth corner was the Depot. There were dwelling houses on Chapel 
street between State and Church, and the State House stood on the upper Green. 
All is changed now. The State House exists only in the minds of the people. 
The old depot still stands, but in place of the hundreds who entered its then gloomy 
portals, bound for different destinations, all now enter its cheerful front to 
patronize 

X B. JUDSON, 

The People's Fruiterer. 



Y.F.^cJHeil&G©. 



* ^ 1 ^^ ^^ 



82 Church St., New Haven, Ct. 



■ THE tllSTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 23 

An animated and far-reaching agitation on the subject of Free- 
masonry, engaged the attention of all classes of citizens in 1830. 
Able writers flooded the newspapers with arguments for and against 
the Order, and the strong feeling engendered came near making 
grave trouble in this community. The discussions had a political 
bearing, and the question as to who should be the prominent men in 
the General Assembly was involved. The good judgment of the 
members of the Order prevailed after a time, in disentangling the 
public mind, and from that date to this. Freemasonry has flourished 
without alarming the friends of a republican form of government. 

The Superior Court for this county, Judge Bissell on the bench, 
moved into the State House, January 25, 183 1. Those who were 
deterred from attending court, by the dampness and darkness of the 
basement room under the Methodist Church, on the Green, near the 
corner of Elm and College streets, now found warm, light, agreeable 
quarters. In the spring of that year, a number of the friends of 
Henry Clay and his American system of protection, held a meeting 
in the State House, at which a number of eloquent speeches were 
made. The Presidential ticket was Henry Clay, with John Sergeant 
for Vice-President. At one of these Clay meetings, held in the build- 
ing, printed invitations were circulated, asking the democratic friends 
of Mr. Clay, in the Legislature, to be present, and a number of them 
favorably responded. The Superior Court in 1832, Judge Daggett on 
the bench, sent to State's prison, one Joseph Swift, for fifteen years, 
he having stolen a little clothing from three different houses. -The 
same judge at the same court sentenced Silas Gorton to eight years 
for forgery, and Henry Pierre, a boy aged sixteen years, to three 
years for burglary. 

There was a grand celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary 
of Washington's birthday, February 22, 1832. There was an oration 
in the North Church by a Mr. Clay, a senior of Yale College. At 
II o'clock in the forenoon, Rev. Mr. Fisk made an address at the 
City Hall. At noon, one hundred guns were fired on the Green. In 
the procession were soldiers of the Revolutionary war, the Clergy, the 



24 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

City Corporation and the Mechanics' Society. The line was formed 
at the State House, under command of Adjutant Henry Hotchkiss, 
and the march was through Chapel and Church streets, to the Cen- 
ter Church, under military escort, consisting of the Artillery, Captain 
Francis ; Grays, Captain Stone ; Guards, Captain Merriman, and the 
Westville Artillery, Captain Pendleton. There was a dinner at the 
Franklin House at which General Dennis Kimberly presided. 
There was also on this great day, a rival celebration, Hon. Noyes 
Darling presiding at the dinner in Washington Hall. There was no 
celebration that year of the Fourth of July, owing principally to the 
public distress, on account of the reports that cholera had appeared 
in New York. But Prof. Silliman gave an address on African 
Colonization, and there was an oration in the North Church by a 
Yale student named Colton. The colonization of the colored people 
in Liberia was the project of many "worthy men, who hoped that by 
purchasing the Southern slaves, and otherwise assisting in their 
emancipation, and sending them to Africa, they might prevent the 
troubles', which were finally settled by the awful war fought between 
the North and South, more than a quarter of a century ago. There 
is standing in Grove Street Cemetery a monument to Ashmun, the 
first Colonial Agent at Liberia, after whom Ashmun street was 
named. 

The Legislature, having taken action regarding the repair of the 
State House, the Common Council. of New Haven, the Mayor being 
Henry C. Flagg, appointed Isaac H. Townsend, Henry T. Huggins 
and Henry Peck in 1838, to see what was best to be done. The 
city also voted one hundred dollars toward the expense of the work. 
Mr. Peck and Leander Parmelee were a part of the committee 
appointed by the Legislature to attend to the repairs. The handsome 
new coat of stucco which was afterward applied to the exterior walls 
excited much interest among New Haven masons. There was a 
secret about the coloring of the imaginary blocks — the walls were 
lined out to resemble blocks of differenr colored stone, and this 
secret was preserved by the man who did the work. He marked out 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE 2% 

the blocks and laid on the color immediately on ihe rough stucco, 
and the effect was admirable. It was the only building in the city 
so treated. 

More than twenty years ago, the subject of building a new and 
handsome State House was agitated among men prominent in local 
affairs. In 1857 Governor Holley wrote a letter to the Common 
Council upon the topic, and Mayor Philip S. Galpin, and Aldermen 
Fitch, Welch and Blake were appointed a committee to take it into 
consideration. The letter cannot now be found among the city's 
papers of that year. 71iat there ought to be but one capital, had 
been for a long time the opinion of public economists. The incon- 
venience and expense of transporting the books, treasures and 
archives of the Stale from Hartford to this city and back again, every 
alternate year, were frequently mentioned by members of the Legis- 
lature, and it was foreboded that the time must come when there 
would be a strife between this city and Hartford, as to which city 
should be the sole capital. The conservative spirit of New Haven 
was so exercised as to lose the honor of being the chosen seat of 
government. A full review of all the discussions, votes, arguments, 
appropriations of money would require a great deal of space, and do 
no good. The ill feeling caused and fostered by the warfare for 
supremacy in this matter has nearly vanished, and soon, all visible 
reminders of the unhappy struggle will have disappeared. 

Some of the lozenge-shaped ornamentations of the eaves of the 
recently destroyed building have been secured by young ladies as 
standards for memorial pin-cushions, and citizens have bought for 
memorials, pieces of the marble which were a part of the steps of 
the building, or of the veneering of the basement walls. Part of the 
brick and stone has gone into the walls of new buildings in different 
parts of the city. Among the purchasers of the old marble steps 
were a number of citizens who wanted them for relics, and others 
who wanted them for curbing in their respective family lots in the dif- 
ferent cemeteries. Among the buyers was Prof. Othniel C. Marsh of 
the Peabody Museum, who proposed to utilize them in making a ter- 



26 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

race at his homestead. John G. North bought some of the stones on 
which he frequently stood while addressing large audiences from the 
north portico, on the subject of temperance and good morals, in the 
times when the porch of the building was used for similar purposes 
to those which gave interest to the forum of ancient Rome. More 
than one thousand of the bricks were purchased for preservation by 
friends of the State House, and some have been handsomely painted 
or gilded. 

In consequence of the passage of a resolution by the General 
Assembly, in May, 1865, the Common Council appointed a com- 
mittee consisting of E. C. Scranton, H. M. Welch, William W. 
Boardman, Charles R. Ingersoll, Dexter R. Wright, Minott A. Osborn 
and Lucius Gilbert, who reported to the latter body the following, 
which was passed : 

" That in the opinion of the Court of Common Council of the City of New 
Haven, if it shall be thereunto duly authorized by the General Assembly, will 
undertake to build within the limits of said city, for the use of the State, a new 
State House, suitable in every respect for the purpose of such a building, and 
creditable in its proportions, construction and finish, to the State and to the city." 

Hon. Henry B. Harrison spoke at length, urging immediate action 
by the city. Messrs.' Scranton and W^right also spoke to the same 
effect and on the importance of continuing New Haven as one of the 
capitals. The people of Hartford were alert and active in their 
efforts to have Hartford made the sole capital. A great deal was 
done by both cities to secure the advantage. At a Common Council 
meeting, February 4, 1867, the following was presented : 

" Whereas, The Legislature of the State of Connecticut at its May session, 1866, 
passed the following resolution ; to wit : 

^'' Resolved by this Assembly : That the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, John T. 
Wait, of Norwich, Nathaniel Wheeler, of Bridgeport, and William H. Barnum, of 
Salisbury, and George Beach, of Hartford, be ajjpointed commissioners to enquire 
into the present condition of the State Houses at New Haven and Hartford, and 
the expediency of erecting new State Houses for the proper accommodation of the 
General Assembly and the various State offices, and with this object to confer with 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 2/ 

the authorities of the cities of New Haven and Hartford and estimate the probable 
expense to the State of such new State Houses, and make report of their doings 
with such recommendations as they may deem fit to the General Assembly." 

Following the foregoing action, the Common Council of New- 
Haven passed a vote by which the mayor, the aldermen from each 
ward and Councilmen Twiss, White, McGuire, Hoadley, McMuUen 
and Peck were appointed a committee on behalf of the city. This 
committee were timidly apprehensive that by the exercise of superior 
diplomacy or offers of a most liberal character, the city of Hartford 
would succeed in having the Constitution so amended that there 
would be but one capital and one State House. They reported, May 
6, 1867, " That they have not gone into an examination of the above 
named topics in detail, and are riot prepared to propose any specific 
measures in relation thereto. The subject more particularly dis- 
cussed by your committee was the larger and more comprehensive 
one (which in effect includes the subject matter of the resolution 
before the committee) viz.: the proposed amendment to the Consti- 
tution contained in a preamble and resolution passed June 27, 1866. 
The preamble here referred to is a statement of the expediency of 
having but one State capital, and the resolution is designed to effect 
that object under certain conditions and terms therein specified. 
Now your committee beg leave to offer that the expediency of the 
proposed change is by no means clear to them. On the contrary, 
they entertain very serious doubts of the expediency of consolidating 
the present arrangement of our State capitals into one, thus opening 
the door to sectional rivalry and local jealousies, and bringing a new 
element of discord into the politics of the State, and certainly divest- 
ing one of the existing capitals of an honorable distinction which it 
has borne from the early colonial days, — a distinction which will not 
be cheerfully resigned by either of the cities of New Haven or Hart- 
ford, nor is it by any means clear to your committee that the possible 
advantages to be derived from the proposed amendment, to any of 
the inhabitants of the State, will offset the obvious and foreseen ten- 
dencies to evil to those portions of the State more immediately con- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 2g 

cerned in securing tiie capital. While, then, we are not prepared to 
assent to the expediency of the measure as stated in the preamble to 
the resolution offered as an amendment to our State Constitution and 
passed by the Legislature June 27, 1866, which is in substance to 
establish a single capital, still we would recommend that the city of 
New Haven stand on the defensive, as to its position as one of the 
capitals of the State, and that we should not quietly yield our birth- 
right in case the present Legislature should submit the proposed 
amendment to the popular vote. We therefore offer the following 
AOle : 

" Resolved, That while we question the expediency of proposing on the part of 
the Legislature or of the adoption by the people of the preamble and resolution 
touching the State capitals, passed June 27, 1866, still we will in the event of this 
adoption as an amendment to the Constitution, accept the conditions of said 
amendment, and will use all honorable means to make the largest city of our state 
its worthy and sole capital." 

This report was signed by Ex-Mayor L. W. Sperry, as chairman. 
The Common Council accepted the report and adopted the resolu- 
tion. The struggle had been commenced in earnest. On the 25th of 
April, 1870, a committee consisting of Mayor Henry G. Lewis, 
Alderman Bradley, Councilmen Piatt and Ingersoll, Hon. Morris 
Tyler and Hon. Lucien W. Sperry, was appointed on this business, 
and July 18, 187 1, a resolution was passed, that if the State would 
appropriate $500,000 the city would furnish a proper site for its loca- 
tion without expense to the State. Much more liberal offers were 
needed than this, although New Haven did not apprehend the truth 
and was not of a sufficiently expansive and forecasting mind to dis- 
cern the public spirit and sagacity which afterward led the people of 
our sister city to pour out money like water in furtherance of their 
desire to be the sole capital. With Hartford managers there was no 
limit to be considered as regarded a future expenditure of money for 
a State House building, nor any hampering consideration of lobby 
expenses. The cost of victory was entirely overlooked, and doubt- 
less the Hartford taxpayers were well satisfied to burden themselves 



30 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

and their posterity with debt, in order to secure the coveted prize. 
The history of most of the cities of this country appears to establish 
the conclusion that it is not advantageous to any community lo 
have the special benefits of the location of governmental institu- 
tions in their midst. There are no finer natural seaport advantages 
than are found at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Its harbor is 
ample for any volume of commerce ; but the people of the town 
have learned to shape their destinies by the interests of their navy- 
yard, and there is no enterprise in them. So, too, Albany, while the 
capital of the great State of New York, is not so enterprising a city 
as Rochester, but is somewhat dependent upon its State House affil- 
iations and contracts for its business profits. Any citizen taking an 
interest in the welfare of New Haven, will find by studying census 
reports, much to console him for the loss of the State House. He 
will perceive that the wealth and prosperity of the city could not be 
enhanced by a restoration of the old arrangement of two capitals. 

For one hundred and seventy-four years New Haven was one 
of the capitals of the State. On the day of the great celebration of 
the fifth semi-centennial of the settlement of New Haven, the orator 
of the occasion, Henry T. Blake, said : 

" From the time when in 1663 the New Haven colony suddenly found herself 
already annexed to the jurisdiction of her wide awake rival, an unremitting vigi- 
lance was always necessary on her part, though not always exercised and not 
often successful, to secure the few crumbs of privilege and opportunity which fell 
on our side of the family table. There were early contests about the half-capital 
question and on the removal of the college, and later ones about canal extensions 
and railroad extensions and Connecticut river bridges, and others too numerous to 
mention. But these had all gone by and there remained on the placid surface of 
New Haven equanimity, not a ripple from the last family breeze. In 1869 
appeared the first symptom of trouble. The Legislature became discontented 
with its accommodations, both at New Haven and Hartford." 

At the risk of adverse criticism, the chronological continuity of 
this history is interrupted for the purpose of finding place for some 
of the recollections of elderly citizens who took part in building the 



THE HISTORY OP THE STATE HOUSE. 3 1 

structure now demolished. There are but few men living who 
helped to build the last of New Haven's State Houses. Mr. Frank 
Collins, of Chicago, over eighty years of age, visited New England 
the present summer. He did considerable of the work on the large, 
massive doors at the north and south ends of the building. Mr. 
Collins was by trade a pattern maker and an accomplished worker in 
wood. He was the gentleman who made the pattern for the tasteful 
iron fence around the Green, and which some public spirited citizens 
hope to see removed, in furtherance of a plan to have the Green con- 
verted into a modern public park. Availing herself of the oppor- 
tunity offered by the destruction of the building, a daughter of Mr. 
Collins came into possession of enough of the wood in one of the 
doors to make a walking cane for her father. Hon. James E. English, 
one of the most respected and wealthiest of New Haven's citizens, 
worked on the same doors, he being then apprenticed to the late 
Atwater Treat. Ex-Governor English, Knight Read, and Willis Booth 
helped make the seats in the hall of Representatives. Quick work 
was necessary as the committee in charge were afraid that the seats 
would not be finished in season for the assembling of the Legislature. 

Mr. William J. Thompson of George street, this city, seventy-five 
years of age, has an excellent memory, and from him have been 
obtained interesting facts connected with the building of the third 
New Haven State House in 1829. Abner Bradley, of Woodbridge, 
was foreman of the stone layers ; Deacon Isaac Thompson acted as 
superintendent ; Charles Thompson had the contract for some part 
of the joiner-work, and built the stairs leading from the main hall to 
the floor above. He died July 9th of this year, the day that William 
J. Montgomery signed the contract with the city to remove the build- 
ing, and the same day that work was commenced in pulling down 
the north steps. Mr. Thompson grieved at the decision of the 
Common Council, and it has been thought that his regret may have 
contributed to a shortening of his life. 

John Peck, Miles Barber, William Bradley and others did the 
plastering in the Representatives' chamber, the latter having learned 



32 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

his trade under the tuition of Deacon Isaac Thompson. William 
and Isaac Thompson had the contract for all of the inside plastering 
except ni the Senate chamber. Arbitration was resorted to in the 
settlement of the accounts for this part of the work. John E. 
Bassett, the Chapel Street hardware merchant, recollects something 
of the discussion pending the settlement. He says that it was told 
him that one of the workmen, George Gill, an Englishman, testifying 
before the arbitrators, said, in answer to a question, that the instruc- 
tions from the architect, Mr. Town, had been to do the work as 
cheaply as possible and have it answer the purpose. This informa- 
tion is supposed to have displeased Mr. Town, inasmuch as he did 
not speak to Gill for a long time after the arbitration. Some of the 
plastering fell after the work was finished, and Mr. Gill was asked if 
he could tell why there was so much weakness at that particular 
place, to which he answered : '* Do you suppose it would fall e\ery- 
where else at the same time ? " 

Mr. Edwin Marble, formerly a merchant and for some years inter- 
ested in the manufacture of carriages, saw the first stone of the foun- 
dation of New Haven's third State House placed in position. The 
first burying ground of the town was opened in the central part of 
the Green which is west of Temple Street. *The Center Church 
covers a portion of the ground, which extended eastwardly beyond 
the church, and it was used as a burial place from 1638 to 1796. 
The plot used for making graves was octagonal in shape and was in 
time surrounded by a board fence, painted red. Such was the 
strong feeling of the people at building the third State House above 
the remains of the founders of the town buried there, that they com- 
j)elled the workmen to place flat stones over the graves. The cem- 
etery being on rising ground, whenever there was a heavy rainfall 
deep gullies were formed between the graves, and Mr. Marble in 
boyhood skated on the ice formed in these gullies, all the way to 
Temple from near College street and over the flooded part of the 
eastern section of the Green, as far as Ogden's coffee house, which 
formerly stood on the land covered at this dav by the Tontine Hotel, 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 33 

the coffee house, however, standing some distance back from Church 
street. The Tontine was buih in 1823. 

The only man living, so far as can be learned, who worked as a 
stone mason on the outside walls of the third State House, is Mr. 
Edwin Perkins, the mason, residing on St. John street. He built 
or helped to build the twelve columns supporting the roof over the 
marble platform of the porch. These columns were of brick and 
were fluted hollow cylinders, some of the brick-work being sixteen 
inches thick and some of only twelve inches. Mr. Perkins was born 
in 1807, and his work can be seen in many buildings througiiout the 
city. A number of the stone masons were residents of Woodbridge, 
and among them were Stephen D. Perkins and John Peck, of that vil- 
lage. William J. Thompson, who has already been mentioned, has 
done a great deal of work upon buildings for Yale University — the 
Kent and the Sloane laboratories, and he built the old college gynnia- 
sium. Into the construction of the last of New Haven's State Houses 
went some of the material used in building the other two. There 
were bricks from at least four sources, some having been imported 
from Holland, others were from the kilns of Strowbridge, England, 
others still from the kilns of Hamden and from those later estab- 
lished in North Haven. The imported brick are exceedingly hard, 
and of a very dark color in the middle. All the bricks of the last 
State House have been sold by the contractor, Mr. Montgomery, and 
have been put to use in building walls inside various edifices in the 
city. Part of the timber in the second State House was used in 
building the first one. 

The rotunda of the 1829 State House was not finished until the 
latter part of April, 1830. The father of William J. Thompson 
bought plaster of paris in New York, so as to expedite the work 
before the foundation plaster was dry. The original cornice of the 
building was of lath and plaster. Charles Thompson, of the firm of 
Thompson & Oatman, contracted to make a new cornice of wood, 
about twenty-five years after the building was finished. Charles was 
half brother of William J. Thompson's father. After the roof was 
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TUB HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 35 

put on the building, and before the first cornice was tinished, a large 
hoot owl got under the roof and made his melancholy and rather 
startling music all night for many nights. The noise being of a 
weird character, it was calculated to awaken the nerve susceptibili- 
ties of such of the workmen as were a little inclined to indulge in 
superstitious fancies. The workmen used to sit up all night, by 
turns, to keep fires agoing for drying the plastering in the Repre- 
sentatives' hall, as it would otherwise have been frozen. The fires 
were fed with pieces of wood, once a part of the second State 
House, and in the last one, wow destroyed, there were timbers 
sawed out more than a hundred and twenty years ago. There was 
employed a watchman in the building; an Irishman, w^hose vigils 
were fearfully disturbed one night, by the fall of some of the plas- 
tering in the hall of Representatives. The man was terror-struck 
with the notion that the noise of the falling plaster was a portentous 
warning from the spirits of the dead, whose ashes mingled with the 
earth beneath the structure. The frightened man ran away. 

The great fire in New York caused a number of the mechanics 
who worked on the State House just removed, to visit that city, as 
good pay was certain to be had there. William J. Thompson was 
one of the men who went. He there worked on a new^ building for 
\\-\Q Journal of Commerce. The late Atwater Treat and Deacon Isaac 
Thompson were together while working on the Bloomingdale insane 
asylum. Harpin Lum, of this city, was in company with them. 
These three built the Exchange Building, on the corner of Chapel 
and Church streets, three years after the completion of the State 
House. Mr. Lum was married with a sister of ex-Governor English. 
After his death, she married again. At one time Mr. Lum had for a 
partner a Mr. Strong, and the firm erected many buildings in New 
Haven. One of Mr. Lum's sons was a student in Yale and was 
drowned in the Mississippi River, while yet a promising young 
college man. The other son carried on business in New Haven. 

The wages of mechanics in 1829 were not as much as in 1889, but 
there were no sugar trusts, and the Diamond Match Company was 



36 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

not even foreshadowed ; for in a good man)' families, fires were 
kindled by applying the brimstone-treated end of a stick to the 
burning tinder which had received its igniting spark by the striking 
of a bit of flint against a piece of steel. Workmen of the 1829 State 
House, if they were masons, received $1.75 per diem, carpenters 
$1.25. All the stone was put on barrows, and as the walls grew up- 
ward, these barrow^s were wheeled up a runway of planks which 
reached from the ground outside to the desired level inside the 
building, the men who pushed the barrows up the incline, receiving 
seventy-five cents a day for their labor. Most of the underpinning 
of the brick dwelling on Elm, below Orange street, the family resi- 
dence of Dr. Charles A. Lindsley of the State Board of Health, was 
taken from New Haven's second State House, and considerable 
of the material was used in other New Haven houses. 

The town records were removed to the basement of the third of 
New Haven's State Houses, and the Town Clerk, John Scarrit, was 
prepared for doing business there, September 3, 1832. Mr. Scarrit 
was clerk of the Board of Health and signed the order made by the 
Board, which they thought calculated to prevent the spread of the 
Asiatic cholera, the dread disease which had slain its thousands in 
the Old World, and which had appeared on the Atlantic seaboard. 
Although New Haven was a religious citv and most of the people 
were faithful in their New England orthodoxy, there was, never- 
theless, considerable fear of the cholera. Two mild cases were 
reported in the city in July. Dr. Charles Hooker reported the case 
of Mrs. Susan Northrop, on Grand street, near Barnesville Bridge. 
She and Charles L. Northrop both recovered from the sickness, the 
latter being only five years old. But Mr. and Mrs. Jones, parents of 
Mrs. Northrop, died of the disorder and were buried on the night of 
the day of their death. It is a noteworthy circumstance that the 
teeth of persons dying here from cholera turned red, and were there- 
fore of no use to the dentists. To allay the general feeling of 
apprehension, Drs. Thomas Hubbard, Eli Ives, William Tully, 
Jonathan Knight, Timothy P. Beers, Samuel Punderson, V. M. Dow, 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 3/ 

A. S. Monson, Charles Hooker, J. T. Hunt, Nathan B. Ives, J. T. 
Denison, H. A. Tomlinson, D. H. Moore and J. B. Blakeman, then 
in the active practice of medicine in the city, published a statement 
that not one of them had a single patient under their care sick with 
cholera, cholera morbus or any similar disease. The Board of 
Health, however, published an order and followed it with the one 
here given, which shows that they had more power than the Board 
of Health in 1889. 

" Also ordered : That from and after the 6th day of July, 1832, no person or 
persons from the city of New York, shall be suffered without permission of the 
health officer, to enter the limits of this city and continue therein for the space of 
two hours until such person shall have been absent from said city of New York, at 
least seven days, and any person or persons violating this order, shall be subject 
to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars." 

What would the directors of the Consolidated road think of such 
an order in this year 1889 ? 

The old Almshouse stood on the northwest part of the Green, on 
the site, partly, of the State House last demolished. Not far from 
College street, on the Green, was a good w^ell of water for the uses 
of the Almshouse, and when the Methodist Church was built on the 
Green, \vater from the well was drawn for slacking the lime used in 
construction. It is believed, but it is not positively certain, that the 
well was not filled with earth, but was covered over with stones or 
timber, and that it would be found again by digging in the right place. 
The Almshouse was drawn off the Green and moved into High street, 
and it became the family residence of Constable John Skinner (he 
was more known by his title of Dr.). and it was pulled down only a 
few years ago. Dr. Skinner was exceedingly zealous in his office 
and kept a keen lookout for all violators of law. His features w^ere 
somewhat forbidding, and he had a black spot looking like a spatter 
of ink on his nose. All the boys in town were afraid of him. 

Sand for building the State House was taken from a deep hole, 
about twelve feet from the structure and near College street. The 



38 THE HiSfORV OF THE ST A TE HOUSE, 

graves between the State House and the North Church were many 
of them much depressed, but the gravestones had been removed as 
early as 182 1. Bodies had been buried closely together, and when 
Mr. Edwin Perkins worked in erecting the monument to Dixwell, 
one of the judges who voted for the death of King Charles I., he 
unearthed the remains of sixteen persons who had been buried in the 
rear of the Center Church, within the limit of sixteen square feet. 
Some of Mr. Dixwell's bones were found and placed in a small box 
which was buried under the monument. 

Noah Webster, the lexicographer, was often a visitor to the State 
House during the meetings of the General Assembly. It was his 
custom to correct the pronunciation of anybody with whom he might 
chance to converse, even if the person happened to be somebody in 
an exalted station. In 1832 he brought out a " History of the United 
States, with a brief Account of our English Ancestors, from the Dis- 
persion at Babel, to their Migration to America, and of the Conquest 
of South America by the Spaniards." This account of the State 
House reminds us how history does ever repeat itself. Like the 
ancient tower of Babel, our State House has served its special pur- 
pose, and is, like it, no more. Mr. Webster's history described our 
ancestors, descendants of Japheth in the wilds of Germany, as they 
were, when the Romans conquered Gaul, before the Christian era. 
A brief account of the conquest of England by our Saxon ancestors 
was given, after which came the story of the peopling of America — 
of the origin of the Puritans, and the causes of their migration to 
this country. About this time, or to be precise, on the 4th of August 
of the same year, public advertisement was made that the State hos- 
pital was finished, and ready for the inspection of visitors. 

Silas Mix, an attorney of much reputation, a large portion of 
whose unfortunate life was afterward spent in the Hartford insane 
retreat, was at this date an ardent politician, and writing many 
statesmanlike arguments, published in the New Haven new^spapers, 
concerning the election of Andrew Jackson to the Presidency of the 
United States. At this time New Haven was visited by the famous 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 39 

advocate of the science of phrenology, SpurzheuTi, who shortly after- 
ward died at Boston, but not until he had set the whole civilized 
world to thinking about some of the mysteries of the human brain. 
Society still imprisons, or hangs, or otherwise gets rid of its crimi- 
nals, whether they were born to be criminals or not. 

For a quarter of a century the State House last built, had been 
tenderly spoken of by older people as a "beautiful old ruin." Seen 
in the still hours of *a cold, moonlight night, its evidences of decay 
undiscerned, it was indeed an object of majestic and classical loveli- 
ness. Of quiet evenings, young men and maids loved to linger in 
sentimental discourse on its marble steps, and under the shadows cast 
by the great pillars of its porch. Upon those steps on bright days, 
since the art of photography has flourished, there frequently gathered 
picturesque groups of different organizations for the purpose of hav- 
ing pictures made of themselves; and the students of Yale, in succes- 
sive years, secured their class pictures in this way for their individual 
members, to be a joy forever. On evenings of special gatherings 
within the building, festive in character, the windows emitted a 
cheerful light, while the music from many instruments was echoed 
from the college buildings on the west, and the Center Church on 
the east. The State House was frequently filled with music from 
either brass or string bands, and its undulating floors were often 
tremulous under the beating of the feet of happy dancers. The city, 
a few years ago, conceived the idea of owning some superior musical 
instruments, and money was voted for that enterprise. Six brass 
Saxe horns were purchased, and musicians, under the tuition of 
John Lyon, met in the basement on certain nights of every week for 
practice, as at other times, before and since, met other music bands 
for a similar purpose. On such occasions, melody mingled with the 
reverberation of sounds of drums, floated over the verdancy of the 
upper Green, and was heard as far as Elm street on one side, and 
Chapel street on the other, of New Haven's market-place. Since 
the war, as social conditions were found to be much changed, police- 
men at night were accustomed to pour the effulgence from their 



PHOTOGRAPHS 

IN ALL VARIETIES AND SIZES, MADE BY 



838 Chapel Street, New Haven, Conn. 



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FINE CABINET PORTRAITS 



AND 



ANDSCAPE Views. 



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THAT WERE MADE. 



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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. \{ 

bulTs-eye lanterns over the steps and within the recesses of the 
porticoes, in order that no dissolute persons might idle away their 
time there, to the disadvantage of the city's high standard of 
morality. 

July 25, of this year, that conservative daily newspaper, the New 
Haven Journal and Courier, printed an editorial flavored with the 
ridicule of the old structure which its enemies and the iconoclastic 
people of the city had been for a long time in the habit of uttering. 
It is quoted here, as a specimen of the literature which for years had 
been influential in creating a feeling on the question of preserving or 
destroying " the noble pile." 

"The beautiful old ruin on the 'Green' was hardly ever more 
beautiful than it is now, when the hand of the spoiler is busy at its 
north end. It is worth the while of any citizen who cannot find 
time to visit Greece, to take a walk on the Green in the twilight and 
see the columns, the arches and the marble which is scattered all 
about. We hope that some photographer will catch some of the 
beauties of the dissolution of the noble pile. A set of such pictures 
would be valuable. Some enterprising and artistic gentleman might 
possibly make some money with an illustrated lecture, showing the 
temple as it was before the Vandals attacked it, and as it will be at 
various stages of their work. Doubtless enough Greeks temporarily 
out of employment, could be hired to be taken along with the ruins, 
and thus add variety to the pictures. They might even be dressed 
in Grecian fashion, and 'made up' to represent Socrates, Plato, 
Aristides and other excellent and well-remembered Greeks. Two or 
three moonlight views would need to be in the collection, and if the 
Historical Society could be induced to 'sit,' it would be well. There 
may not be millions in this idea. There probably are not. We give 
it for what it is worth. At least one such performance in New 
Haven would be well attended." 

The builders of the State House were fortunate in exemption 
from fatal accidents. At the building of Trinity Church on the 
Green, a man lost his life ; another man was killed at the building 



42 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

of the College Street Church, and still another at the building of St. 
Paul's. The latter was a stone mason, and his death was reported 
to have been a judgment and punishment for his wickedness in 
working into its walls four stones rudely shaped to represent the 
four suits in a pack of playing cards. These stones were in recent 
times removed from the walls. But many old citizens, especially 
among the town born, profess to believe in the theory of special 
providences and in this particular judgment. The man whose death 
was so shocking, had said that he placed the objectionable stones in 
the wall, so that a certain pious man might have his memory refreshed. 

How some of the best and most intelligent of New Haven's inhabi- 
tants loved Henry Clay, was well revealed at the meetings in the 
State House. The speeches of that time w'ere not reported in the 
newspapers. The vote of Connecticut, for Clay electors, was 16,774; 
for the Jackson electors, 10,569; and for Wirt's, 3,036. December 
21, 1832, was the date of the visit of Daniel Webster to New Haven, 
at which time a number of his admirers paid their respects to him at 
the Tontine Hotel. The more informed among the W^hig friends of 
Mr. Clay claimed that he would have been successful in his aspira- 
tions for the Presidency of the United States, had it not been for the 
personal ambition of Mr. Webster. 

In the spring of this year there had been a number of outrageous 
and unprovoked assaults committed upon inoffensive persons of both 
sexes, and on the 2d of March, Mr. J. Smith, a respectable man, 
while walking on the Green, returning in company with his wife from 
a call in Broadway upon a sick relative, was cruelly beaten on the 
head by clubs in the hands of two unknown wretches, who also felled 
Mrs. Smith. The man was taken to the Tontine, where he was 
attended by Dr. Hubbard. People were worried and indignant, and 
the expediency of carrying pistols for defense was considerably 
debated. These were days of forcible editorial writing, and one city 
newspaper, anticipating evil which never appears to have prevailed, 
published in 1833, regarding the election of town representatives to 
the Legislature, a screed in which occurred the following language : 



THE HIS TOR Y . OF THE S TA TE HO USE. 43 

" The result of the election in this city is as astounding to us as its consequences 
may be fatal to the success of good men and sound principles. New Haven has 
prostrated herself at the shrine of Jacksonianism, and kissed the hand that smote 
her." 

At this election the vote for John M. Clarke, a Jackson man, who 
ran for the first Representative's place, was 357 ; for Sidney Hull, 
the national Republican, 314,. and there were 23 votes returned as 
"scattering," a majority of 20 votes for Mr. Clarke. For second 
Representative, Silas Mix, Jacksonian, received 357 votes, and Aaron 
N. Skinner, national Republican, 299 ; there being 17 votes counted 
as scattering, which gave Mr. Mix a majority of 41 votes. The 
Legislature met in Hartford in 1833. There were three candidates 
for Governor, although there had been five at the popular election. 
Of the three, Henry W. Edwards received 147 votes ; John S. Peters 
10, and 10 blank ballots were in the box, the 10 representing the 
friends of Storrs, who at the popular election, had received between 
3,000 and 4,000 votes. Mr. Edwards' majority was 67. The Legis- 
lature courteously passed a resolution, complimentary to the defeated 
Peters. 

The same year, Benjamin Silliman, William W. Boardman, William 
Forbes, Theodore D. Woolsey, James A. Hillhouse, Francis B. Win- 
throp, Nathaniel Jocelyn, Jonathan Knight, M. D., Augustus R. 
Street and Russell Hotchkiss, Jr., were made directors of the Athe- 
nasum, at a meeting in the old Franklin House on Church, corner of 
Crown street. The outgrowth of this institution is seen of the pres- 
ent prosperity of the Young Men's Institute, and by reflection, of the 
Free Public Library of the city, which is in need of an endowment 
to make it what its projectors wished. The Legislature of this year 
repealed the law prohibiting and punishing servile labor on days of 
public fasting and thanksgiving, the vote in the House being 116 to 
62. A writer of that period, commenting upon the action of the 
Legislature, truly said : " Religion is to be supported by the good 
sense, self-respect and philanthropy of the people, and not bv legig- 
tive enactments." 



44 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

At the time of which we write, compulsory military service was a 
vexation to wage-workers who, rather than pay fines for not appear- 
ing on duty on prescribed days, showed their feeling by parading in 
any sort of dress and with any kind of muskets. There was no pre- 
tence of uniformity in clothing, decorations or arms and when the 
old militia turned out for parade, inspection and review, the soldiers 
looked less respectable than the farmer-boys and serfs who flocked 
to Sedgemoor, at the call of Monmouth, the jDretender. One bright 
morning in June of 1833 a large crowd of odd-looking fellows assem- 
bled on the Green for the purpose of ridiculing tlie militia laws. 
There was not a musket in the whole company, but hoes, shovels, axes, 
cross-bows and other useless weapons were in the hands of the men. 
In derision of an instrument of music which had recently been 
adopted by some brass bands and named " Chinese bells," some of 
the men carried long poles on the top of which were tied dinner and 
sleigh bells. They formed in line in front of the State House, 
whereupon the General (Bloodthirsty he was nicknamed) delivered a 
speech. There was not one unsoldier-like manoeuvre, except when 
the General's horse attempted to eat off the grass whiskers of one of 
the Invincibles who stood near him. The street parade excited much 
merriment. 

It was a memorable day in the city's calendar, when in June (15th) 
Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, was addressed in 
the State House by the Governor and the Mayor of New Haxen. 
The President was accompanied by Secretary Cass, Secretary Wood- 
bury, Vice-President Van Buren, Governor Marcy, of New York, 
Major Donaldson, the President's Private Secretary, Mr. Poinset, 
ex-Minister to Mexico, and other distinguished men. The party left 
New York on the steamboat Splendid, for New Haven, early in the 
day. At 10.30 the steamboat put into Bridgeport harbor and the 
party debarked. It was the first time that General Jackson ever was 
in New England. The stop at Bridgeport occupied an hour's time. 
At one o'clock the guns of a United States cutter in New Haven har- 
bor, announced the appearance of the Splendid and the other Sound 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 45 

Steamer, the Superior. A field piece at the landing and cannon fired 
on the Green, called out the people, who in holiday raiment crowded 
the sidewalks. Flags gayly waved, and at all the windows on the 
streets through which the procession passed, the wives, mothers and 
children of New Haven made an attractive spectacle. The military 
with a band from Meriden, went to the landing. hX the dock, the 
people gave cheer after cheer and the enthusiasm was great. The 
old man uncovered his head, which was as white as time could make 
it, and to each and all he gracefully waved his hat in token of his 
pleasure. x\fter the addresses at the State House, the escort formed 
and the procession moved through College, York, Elm, State, 
Chapel and Church streets to the Tontine, where the military passed 
by in review. Sunday, which was the following day. General Jack- 
son attended services in Trinity Church on the Green and heard Rev. 
Harry Croswcll preach. Thurlow Weed, of the Albany Journal, 
afterward gave currency to a story that the behavior in church, of 
Mr. Martin Van Buren was so indecorous that he ous^ht to have 
been disciplined by the tythingman, but this was indignantly denied 
by many who had attended the services. Monday, at five o'clock, the 
distinguished guest of the city visited the carriage factory of 
Brewster c^- Collis and the axe factory of Alexander Harrison. At 
6.30 he left for Hartford, stopping on the way at Eli Whitney's gun 
factory. Charles H. Pond was marshal on the reception day and 
Jones & Allis, of the Tontine, were praised for their ample provision 
for the comfort of the visitors. A tall hickory tree, with green leaves 
at its top and a handsome standard of the Union, were in front of the 
place of Knight Read, near the Tontine. General Jackson rode a 
handsome white horse. There were strong feelings for and against 
Jackson. Samuel Miles, a tailor, spent the 15th in West Haven, to 
avoid seeing him, while Timothy Potter was so rejoiced that he ran 
around the State House three times to shake his hand. 

The Legislature of the same year, for the special accommodation of 
the village of Canterbury, passed what was called the "Black law," 
which declared that " no colored person sh^ll receive an education 



H. AXJSTIIV. F» I>. ^XJSTIIV. 



HENRY AUSTIN & SON, 



ARCHITECTS. 



OFFICE, HOADLEY BUILDING ROOM NO. 31, 



49 dhhFch St., Me^ MeL^em, 



C O Pif PSf , 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 47 

who is not an inhabitant of this State, in any academy, school or lit 
erary institution of this State, without the consent in writing of a 
majority of the civil authority of the town in which such school is 
situated." Regarding this law, the New York Daily Advertiser 
said : 

" The spirit that gave rise to this act is highly discreditable to the 
character of the Legislature and of the people whom they represent. 
Such a measure might have been looked for in a Slave State, but to 
find it adopted in a State where slavery does not exist, where the 
institutions are free and the universality of education is its most 
striking characteristic, is truly surprising." 

In the basement of the third State House (and hereafter in this 
history it will be the one always meant unless one of the others is 
specified) were held those meetings of the freemen of the town, which 
in the past have been the very bulwarks of our liberty, much 
esteemed since the power of the city to locally legislate has been, by 
an amendment to the city charter, taken from the people and vested 
in the Common Council. In a print of that day, on the 26th of No- 
vember, 1833, is to be found more than a hint of the crude and often- 
times unjust methods by which the will of the people was controlled. 
Says the record : "The election of town officers terminated yesterday 
as all popular elections in this town will ever terminate as long as 
anarchy and confusion are permitted to predominate over sober 
republicanism and good order, and a few demagogues are allowed to 
overawe and repress the wishes and voice of a majority of the 
voters. Voting by nomination instead of by ballot, everything was 
carried by acclamation. In order to get the vote truly, it was 
decided that those in favor of the first selectman, should pass 
through the hall and be counted. In this way the opponents were 
kept waiting and impatient at the unfair way, and got disgusted and 
went away. Some passed into the hall, not knowing what was going 
on and were counted on the wrong side. William Mix was again 
chosen first selectman." On occasions of making appropriations 
of money or voting upon any question of special interest, the State 



48 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

House basement was thronged with excited townsmen and there was 
usually displayed considerable finesse by both parties on each side 
of a matter, as to which should secure the moderator or chair- 
man. For the rulings of the chairman and his tact in excluding 
from the discussion such men of influence as were on the other side, 
were very potent in these town meetings. Shouting and cries of 
'' order " and colloquial disputes in the different parts of the large 
room where the meetings were held, characterized nearly all meet- 
ings. The commanding talent and shrewdness of William W. Board- 
man, as a chairman, was frequently recognized. Stephen D. Pardee 
made a most reliable chairman. It was rarely that a chairman 
could catch the eye or hear the call of a citizen who desired to 
speak adversely to the views of his backers, and the rage of dis- 
appointed patriots at what they considered unfairness, often led to 
exciting personalities. 

There are still a number of citizens who recollect the mild, noble- 
looking Joseph Lancaster who in December of 1833 lectured on his 
system of economical instruction of youth by making use of moni 
tors. His system had been adopted by the Turks and their approval 
was quoted as an argument in its favor. He lectured in the Center 
Church as early as June 21, 1827, for he twice visited New Haven, 
and as a result of his efforts the first Lancasterian school was kept in 
the basement of the Methodist Church on the Green soon after the 
erection of the building. This church had a frontage toward College 
street of 68 feet and extended eastwardly 80 feet. The State had 
lately established a constitution which granted equal rights to all 
denominations, and had abolished what was called "the Standing 
Order." It was a turn of the scale in favor of relijjious libertv and 
resulted in a vote of the New Haven people giving a site on the 
northeast corner of the upper section of the Green, for the building 
of the church. The permission designated its north angle, with a 
line parallel with the North Church and a line twenty feet southerly 
of the College street line. It was specified in the permit that "said 
house be built of brick or stone and of a size suitable to the hon- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 



49 



orable place that it will occupy." The vote was passed in the 
spring of 1820. Many interesting facts in connection with the Meth- 
odist organization in New Haven are to be found in a paper in pos- 
session of Mr. Sylvester Smith, of College street, written in 1840 at 
the request of Elias Gilbert. 




THE FIRST METHODIST CHURCH. 

The corner-Stone of the building was laid May 15, 182 1, about 
one thousand persons being present. The New York Conference 
had appointed Rev. William Thatcher pastor, and be took charge in 
June, 1820. He was called the Father of the Methodist New Haven 
meeting-house. The building had been so far completed that the 
roof was in position the 3d of September, 1821, when occurred what 
4 



50 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

has been frequently spoken of as " the great September gale," which 
damaged property on Long Wharf and elsewhere, and in New York 
leveled three hundred chimneys. The windows had not been put 
into the church building, and the wind lifted the roof a few times as 
if it were dancing on the walls, when presently there was a crash of 
falling bricks and timber, and the structure was in ruins. Eight 
months after the gale, Rev. John Summerfield preached a sermon at 
the dedication of the building which had been rebuilt. This was 
May 23, 1822. The Methodists worshipped in a building on the east 
side of Temple, between Crown and George streets, from 1807 until 
they moved into the new church. During the pastorate of Rev. 
John Floy the building was taken down in 1848. A lot had been 
secured on the northeast corner of Elm and College streets, where 
had once stood a small wood building in which George Gabriel, and 
later Chester Goodyear, had kept store. The city gave the society 
$5,000 and \'ale College contributed $500 toward defraying the 
expenses attendant upon the removal of the building from the Green, 
the purchase of the lot and erection of the new building. Mr. 
Henry G. Lewis, afterward New Haven's honored chief magistrate, 
also raised a considerable sum from the subscriptions of citizens. 
The dedication of the new building, which has a high steeple and is 
in its interior very convenient for class meetings and the needs of a 
flourishing Sunday-school, took place April 12, 1849. 

John E. Lovell, an Englishman, came to New Haven in 1822 and 
taught the youth of the town the rudiments of a sound education, 
under the Lancasterian system. His school room was in the base- 
ment of the Methodist Church on the Green, from the year of its 
dedication until its removal. At the semi-centennial celebration of 
the settlement of New Haven, April 25, 1888, Mr. Lovell, then in 
his ninety-fourth year of age, met about 350 of his former pupils in 
a complimentary re-union. There was a collation served in a build- 
ing on Orange, below Chapel street, and it was a very memorable 
occasion. Hon. Henry B. Harrison, ex-governor of the State, pre- 
sided, and paid a noble tribute to the character and successful work 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 51 

of Mr. Lovell. In 1827 a new school house was built on a lot, the 
gift to the school district of Titus Street, on the northeast corner of 
Orange and Wall streets, where Mr. Lovell taught for many years. 
In the published transactions of Founders' Day, 1888, will be 
found a most interesting account of the meeting of the Lancasterian 
boys. Ex-Governor James E. English, the late Judge Henry E. 
Pardee, Prof. George E. Day, of the Yale Divinity school, Horace 
Mansfield, Henry Mattoon, besides a number of men past middle 
age, who were distinguished for wealth and their respectable 
achie\ements, were at the gathering. In his address on the occa- 
sion mentioned, ex-Governor Harrison said among other things : 
" In looking back to the opening of the school at which it was m)- 
lot to be present, I am impressed with certain leading ideas of Mr. 
Lovell which were made prominent in its semi-military organization, 
viz.: the importance of order, neatness, obedience and reverence. 
The inspection of hands in the long line extending from the old 
Methodist Church to the corner of the North or United Church, the 
orderly march into the cellar-like school room, the reverential read- 
ing of the Scriptures by the instructor, the inscription in large letters 
'a place for everything and everything in its place,' and the prompt 
obedience required and enforced were an education in themselves. 
Combined with the personal activity of the teacher, his genius for 
organization and his courtly manners, they contributed largely to the 
success of the school." 

Standing near the Methodist Church one pleasant day in 1825, 
Mr. Lovell was thrown into a state of great anxiety as he watched 
the perilous performance of one of his pupils, John Beers. This lad 
had climbed the lightning rod of the Center Church and was 
engaged in turning the weather vane at its top. The teacher showed 
much solicitude at the risk of life, and was greatly relieved when 
young Beers made a safe descent to the ground. The following day 
the performance was repeated, the boy sitting astride the vane. 
The church officers and other citizens, to prevent a further and 
similar jeopardy of life, bent the rod to follow the conformation of 



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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 53 

the cornice, and the rod was spiked to the wall, as it is seen to- 
day. 

During a part of the time while the State House was building, the 
courts, afterward held in that building, were held in the Methodist 
Church building. From the basement of the old church were often 
heard by people walking that way, the energetic songs of praise and 
the shouts of the joyfully converted. In those days the enthusiastic 
amens and exclamations denoting exaltation in worship, were more 
abundantly heard than in these days of greater cult in religious 
exercises. When in 1842 the interpretation by William iSIiller, of 
the prophecies of the book of Daniel and the other sacred writings 
were arousing people in various parts of the country to expectations 
of the near approach of the end of the \vorld and the almost imme- 
diate appearance again on earth of the Son of God, many devout 
Christians were deeply impressed by the hopes and fears sequent 
upon the new belief. A goodly number of Methodists, in common 
with persons of other denominations, after a perusal of Mr. Miller's 
arguments, were persuaded that the time w'as close at hand when 
without suffering the pains of death, they should be taken away from 
earth to heaven. These believers, by the irreverent denominated 
" Millerites," met sometimes in the basement of the Methodist 
Church, and enlightened each other's minds and warmed each other's 
hearts, by rehearsing the evidences of the speedy coming of the 
great day. Some believers had, it was said, prepared ascension 
robes. Others were so absorbed with the thought of the great move- 
ment, that they were accused by their less convinced and more 
indifferent friends, with being crazed. Rev. Smith Dayton, a Meth- 
odist minister, became satisfied with the evidences which had con- 
vinced so many earnest and good people. In the winter a paper 
mill in Westville was burned. It was in the night season and snow- 
was falling. The air vvas filled with lurid light as the city's fire 
apparatus was rolling through the streets. *' Stop, stop ! " said Mr. 
Dayton, to the men who were pulling along a fire engine. "This is 
a fire which no earthly engines can extinguish." William Miller, the 



54 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

founder of this faith, was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1781, 
and he died at Low Hampton, Washington County, New York, in 
1849, He was a farmer and had been a captain of a company in 
1812. He began to lecture on the speedy coming of Christ in 1833, 
and he then interpreted the Scriptures to mean that the world was to 
be destroyed in 1843. He had at that time about 50,000 followers. 
From the doctrines then'preached were evolved others, and different 
dates were afterward fixed upon for the day of destruction. The 
first date had been October, 1842 ; then 1843, 1847, 1848, 1857 and 
1861. Believers, to some extent, gave away their material pos- 
sessions. A number of pious persons w^ho had faith in Miller's 
doctrines, were afterward associated in a church of Primitive Chris- 
tians, who held meetings in a wood building on York and facing 
down Grove street, and which afterward became the property of the 
New Haven Wheel Company. There is now a church of second 
adventists on Beers street. 

Intelligence of the death of the Marquis, General La Fayette, was 
published in New Haven, June 21, 1834. He died May 20, at five 
o'clock in the morning, at which date he would have been seventy- 
seven years of age in about three months. The city • authorities 
directed the flag to be displayed on the Green, and requested 
masters of vessels in port to display their flags also. Minute guns 
were fired and an orator to speak aj^pointed. The Common Council 
passed resolutions and James A. Hillhouse was chosen to make the 
oration. The visit of this friend of American liberty to New Haven, 
in 1824, is recorded at length in the '* History and Antiquities of 
New Haven," by the late John W. Barber, and there are elderly 
persons who recall the interesting mcidents connected therewith. 
New Haven sent a deleiration to New York to meet the distinjruished 
man and in the evening of the 20th of August, the people illuminated 
their houses. In front of Morse's Hotel, corner of Crown and Church 
streets, was displayed a large transparency with the legend " Welcome, 
La Payette." This was surrounded with French and American flasfs. 
Smaller transparencies with similar words were seen above the doors 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 55 

of many houses. Contrary to expectation, the General did not reach 
New Haven until lo o'clock in the forenoon of the next day, when 
his arrival was announced by a salute of twenty-four guns. He was 
addressed by the Mayor, at the room of the Common Council. The 
Governor of the State, those officers of the revolutionary war who 
were in New Haven, the civil and military authorities, the Faculty of 
Yale College, the clergy and hundreds of citizens paid their respects 
to him. A procession of college students, wearing their respective 
society badges, were in line with the troops reviewed by the city's 
guest, who made an address. He had passed through the town in 
1778. In the forenoon he breakfasted with the Common Council, 
and among those present were Governor Wolcott and all the civil 
and military authorities, the Yale Faculty, the clergy, the New York 
committee of escort and surviving officers of the revolutionary war. 
Three hundred ladies, with their children, were presented to the 
General. At noon. General La Fayette went upon the Green and 
reviewed the military, consisting of the Horse Guards, Major Hug- 
gins ; a squadron of cavalry under Adjutant Harrison ; the Foot 
Guards, Lieutenant Boardman ; Artillery, Lieutenant Redfield; Iron 
Grays, Lieutenant Nicholl, and a battalion of infantry. Captain 
Bills ; the whole under Major Grannis. The General walked down 
the whole line, shaking hands with the officers and bowing to the 
soldiers. He received a marchins: salute while in the doorwav of 
the house of Nathan Smith. He rode to the College campus, and 
was received by the president at the head of the Faculty, and was 
conducted between a double line of students, to the lyceum, mineral- 
ogical cabinet, and library. At the new burying ground there were 
pointed out to him the graves of Humphreys, the aide to General 
Washington ; and Dwight, who had been a chaplain in the Revolu- 
tion. He received attentions at the house of Prof. Benjamin Silli- 
man, where he met the widow of Governor Trumbull. He was met 
by the students at the foot of Prospect Hill, and by way of Temple 
street, went to the Green and was shown the graves, then supposed 
to be those of Whalley and Goffe, the regicide judges of King 



EXPLANATION OF DIAGRAMS OF THE STATE HOUSE, 
FROM ORIGINAL PLANS. 



BASEMENT. 

A ......... . Town Hall 

A A Arches under the Porticoes 

jB B B Committee Rooms 

C C Entry 

D Clerk of Court 

E Probate C'ourt 

F Town Clerk 

The iigures show the size of the rooms. 

PRINCIPAL FLOOR. - 

G ......... . County Court 

H Committee Room 

1 Commissioner of School Fund 

J .......... Treasurer 

K . Comptroller 

L M X O Committee Rooms 

P ......... Room for Jurors 

For many years the Governor's room was on this floor and in the southeast 
corner of the building. 

UPPER FLOOR. 

R Representatives' Hall 

S . Senate Chamber 

T Secretary's Room 

U V . . . . . . . Governor's Rooms 

P P Rooms partitioned off from the Representatives' Hall at the time when 
the flat ceiling was hung under the original arched one, shown in the picture of 
the south end ruins. 

56 




57 



58 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

Charles [neither of thein were buried there, in rear of the Center 
Church, as then supposed], and of Dixwell. His departure from the 
city was announced by tiring fifteen guns, the city authorities accom- 
panying him on his way as far as East Haven Green. 

The people having consented to allow^ the Methodists to build 
their church on the Green, voted at a town meeting held October, 
1821 : 

" That the town consents that the Baptist Society in New Haven may erect a 
meeting-house on the southwest corner of the west section of the public square, to 
stand in a line with the Methodist Church, the south line of said building to be in 
a line with the south line of the Episcopal Church, and to be of dimensions at 
least equal to the Methodist Church, provided the same be built of brick or stone, 
and be completed on or before the first day of January, 1S24." 

The Baptists did not, however, build on the site generously allotted 
them. This voting of church sites was no evidence that the city did 
not fully appreciate the value of the Green, for in August, 1821, the 
Common Council voted, " that the Mayor and Alderman Bishop be a 
committee to confer with the contractor or contractors for the feed 
and pasturage of the east section of the public square in regard to 
rescindins: the contract with them and to rescind the contract on such 
terms as they shall see best." 

An old horse belonging to a man named Gorham, had been getting 
pasturage on the Green at night, without cost to his owner. One 
night, some students painted the horse green, and in some way got 
him into the bell-tower of the College Chapel, where he was found 
in the morning. 

Inside the south wall of the hall of the Representatives there once 
stood two handsome wood columns with an entablature connecting 
them, but they were taken down some years before the destruction of 
the building, the idea being that the acoustic properties of the hall 
would be improved. On the roof of the building, for a few years 
after it was built, there was a framework supporting a bell, pur- 
chased from a merchant vessel at this port, and the bell was rung 
on court days. It proved too small to be of service, and a contract 



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6o THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

was made with the se;cton of the Center Church, to ring the bell in 
the steeple of that bLiilding. It was rung on days when the Legisla- 
ture was in session as well as on court days. Diagrams showing the 
plans of the State House are here given. 

However uninteresting to the reader may be a collocation of dates, 
they appear to be necessary in giving an account of the structures 
which were once or are now standing on the Green. 

First meeting-house commenced in 1639. Built of wood. Fifty 
feet square. Situated near the centre of the eastern section of the 
Green. It had a turret in which a sentinel was staiioned, Sabbath 
days, to give the alarm in case of a raid by the Indians. This 
house was occupied about thirty years. 

First school house located in the rear of the first church, and a 
little toward the north. 

Second meeting-house, buili in 1668, near the location of the first 
one. It had a pyramidal roof, and in the top was a bell, placed 
theie in 1680. 

November 14, 1670, the old meeting-house was ordered to be sold, 
to the town's best advantage. 

Third meeting-house, built in 1670, during the ministry of Rev. 
Nicholas Street. 

Rev. Joseph Noyes ordained July 4, 17 16. The brick meeting- 
house erected in his lime, was 72 feet 6 inches long, and 50 feet 
wide ; built in 1757. It stood a little east of where its successor was 
erected in 1812. Its pulpit was on its west side; its turret or 
steeple was at its north end. There were three entrances — one 
through the tower, one at the south ^\\(\. and one on the east side, 
where the steps encroached upon Temple street. 

The present Center Church cost about $34,000, and was dedicated 
December 27, 1814. Similar objections to building were made that 
were made to building the State House in 1829 ; namely, on account 
of the desecration of the graves of our forefathers. A glance into the 
Crypt of the Center Church, will show that the graves have been bet- 
ter preserved probably, than if the improvement had not been made. 




• • 



6i 



62 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

The Fair Haven Church building, located near the site of the 
present United, formerly called the* North Church, was built in 1772. 

In 1814-15 was built the United (North) Church, and an addition 
was made in the rear in 1850. 

Trinity Church was built in 1814-15. Added to in the rear, within 
the past five years. 

Second, or new brick State House, erected in 1763, the whipping 
post being in rear of the building. The post afterward stood nearer 
Temple street, and its successor, the town post, now stands outside 
the southeast corner of the Green. It is used for posting legal 
notices and orders of court. 

The public square fenced 1798, under direction of James Hillhouse, 
David Austin and Isaac Beers. 

July, 1799, permission was given to have the Green levelled, under 
supervision of Pierpont Edwards, James Hillhouse and Isaac Beers, 
provided the work cost the city nothing. 

The division fences were removed from the Green, which was 
enclosed by an iron fence supported by granite posts in 1843. The 
money to defray the cost of the improvement was donated by the 
State, and in consideration of the fact that the New Haven banks 
had been heavily taxed for their charters. 

The first county house and jail were removed from the western 
part of the west section of the Green in 1784. They stood between 
the old cemetery and College street, not far from Elm street. 

The market house, for which permission to build on the Green was 
given, August, 1785, was removed about the time the Green was 
enclosed with a first fence. It stood near the southeast corner. 

The elm tree, corner of Church and Chapel streets, was set out 
the day that Benjamin Franklin died : April 17, 1790. The tree 
was purchased by Mr. Thaddeus Beecher for one quart of St. Croix 
rum, of Jerry Ailing, of Hamden, who brought it into town on his 
shoulder and planted it \vhere it now flourishes in its lovely age. 
The man was known sometimes as Apple Ailing, because he peddled 
fruit to the College students. In 1887, this Franklin Elm, as it is 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 6l 

sometimes called, measured sixteen feet around its trunk, two feet 
above the ground, and it is still growing, although some of its limbs 
have been lost. On one side it had become injured by the wheels 
of passing carts, and about thirty years ago, Mr. Gad Day inserted 
in its wounded side a thick board, about three feet long, to keep out 
the weather. The bark has since so grown over the board that only 
about two feet of its length and eight inches of its width can be seen. 
The tree has increased a foot and a half in diameter since this bit of 
surgery. A few years before the war, between the North and South, 
Philip Pinkerman raised by subscription, about sixty dollars, and 
this money, with a small appropriation by the city, was used to pay 
for the wrought iron fence which at present protects the tree, but 
which should now be enlarged. Mr. Pinkerman kept a cigar store in 
the Glebe building which preceded the present structure of that 
name, on the corner of Chapel and Church streets. 

Let us look at the Green in some of its various aspects. Before 
ever there was a fence or definite boundary lines, more than two 
hundred years ago, we see an uneven piece of land with marshy 
pools, nourishing the roots of alders and wild vines. Foot-paths 
trending in different directions, but not in straight lines, intersect 
each other for the convenience of people living in the neighborhood. 
In their season frogs and tree toads make their respective sort of 
music, and in places specially dank, low shrubberies bear their fruit- 
age of berries or nuts where fire-flies of summer nights show their 
flitting light. At dusk, when the vigilant watchfulness of the puri- 
tanic master and mistress can be most easilv eluded, thoughtless and 
perhaps wickedly reckless men-servants and maid-servants steal 
through the gloaming to disport themselves without restraint, and 
undisturbed except by the cry of a strange bird or the unfamiliar 
voice of a wild animal in distress. Or it is a still Sabbath morning, 
as the people with deportment of gravity befitting the hour, w^end 
their way at the call of drum-beat, to the meeting-house. Later on 
in the passage of time we see a group of English officers standing 
near the grave of John Dixwell, the regicide, discussing the sugges- 



ESTAI5LIBHEI> 1838. 

O. OOTVLES 4fe OO. 
MFRS. CARRIAGE TRIMMINGS. 



GOLD, SILVER 

NICKEL 

Plating* 




RE-PLATING 



A. 







Girls' Tricycles & Velocipedes. 



Established 1859. 




1^.1 PHlLLIj^. I ^^pBt^g^ 

Excelsior Sign Depot, 
57 Church St., opp. Post Office, New Haven, Conn. 

SIGNS AND BANNERS 

Transparencies, Carved Signs, Ice Cream and Soda Water 

Flags, Business Wagons Lettered, Gilding on 

Glass a Specialty, Cloth Signs of 

all Kinds, Show Cards, 

Etc. 



Best AVoi-lf . 



Lo>vest: Prices. 



P. 0. Box 1383. 



H. D. PHILLIPS, C. R. PHILLIPS, 




65 



66 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

tion that his bones should be disinterred and treated with indignity. 
Near the southeast corner of the Green at a later time, are gathered 
the farmers from outlying districts. They have driven their ox teams 
into town with loads of wood and hay, and are waiting for a pur- 
chaser of their commodities. But what grand excitement has called 
the people together on a certain forenoon in 1761, when there is 
much joyful shouting and a firing of cannon? It is the day on 
which proclamation is made that the Prince of Wales has become 
King Georo-e III. This was a time when healths were drunk to his 
Majesty, the royal family and King of Prussia, and there was feast- 
ing by the governor, deputy governor and council, and others of 
notability. 

With gibe and jest the idle and malevolent are mingled with some 
few citizens of puritanic severity of countenance, to enjoy seeing 
two miserable fellows branded with the letter " B " before being 
publicly whipped. Let us hope that their punishment was deserved, 
and they burglarized no more. Again are assembled a few of the 
shrewd, forehanded citizens who are eager to bid at the public auc- 
tio!i of the town poor, whose future lot it must be to bear in pain 
and suffering all that they are able, in return for the cheapest and 
coarsest fare that will sustain life. To this dav the State of Con- 
necticut practically approves this method of caring for the poor. 
All paupers not accredited to any town become charges upon the 
State, and they are sent to TariiTville, there to live or languish and 
die, as may be the case, and at as small an expense to the good old 
commonwealth as is possible. 

Now on the Green we catch the sound of voices raised in angry 
protest at the iniquitous Stamp i.\ct, and with wild, seditious remarks 
the people express their hatred to taxation without representation. 
How merrily the bells — three of them — did ring not long afterw^ard 
when intelligence w^as received of the repeal of the obnoxious law. 
Now comes a day when members of the Governor's Guards hasten 
to the Green and march away for Lexington or Cambridge under 
the brave Benedict Arnold. What noisy rejoicings at night in 1781 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 67 

at Washington's victory over Lord Cornwallis ! The gathering of 
the people at the brick meeting-house, the grand dinner in the State 
House, the illumination of that building and dwelling houses near 
the Green at night — surely they were happy people who flocked to 
the Green to mingle their congratulations and strengthen each 
other's love for liberty ! Such another rejoicing they had in 1783 at 
the news of the cessation of hostilities between this and the mother 
country. 

What a strange scene was that on the Green, when in 1839, ^ 
crowd of velvety-skinned blacks — the mutineers of the Amistad — 
were let out of the county jail on Church street, to roll and toss 
and gambol about on the grass, under the shade of the ehns, which 
although they are older now, were trees of magnitude and beauty. 
It was no stranger sight than now can be enjoyed, when on the 
front steps of the First Church, in the centre of the Green, pictur- 
esque groups of Italians, the women wearing bright colored shawls 
on their heads, chatter in their liquid language of interests in Rome 
or Genoa, as they would on the church steps of their native place in 
sunny Italy. 

It must have been a mournful assemblage which assisted at the 
burial on the Green of Martha Townsend, the first woman in New 
Haven for whom a grave was made there. There were many other 
similar occasions for mournful meetings, but none, it would seem, so 
calculated as this to set the mind at work with the theological prob- 
lems w^hich tormented the best of our ancestors. No matter how 
long ago it is since the body of this first inhabitant of the silent City 
of Death was sweetened by the cool earth and was wasted quite 
away — beyond all possibility of ever being found — the creed and 
faith of the mourners, as inscribed to-dav over the entrance to Grove 
Street Cemetery, must have had as much consolation in it as it has 
for the faithful and good in this year of our Lord, 1889. "The dead 
shall be raised ! " At profound midnight there were burials in the 
Green, when certain of our ancestors were borne to the grave, lying 
on the bottom of a wagon, the lifeless body wrapped in sail-cloth, 



Exposition Uiiiverselle. 

PARIS, 1889. 

PRIZE AWARDED FOR 

S. HI- STIiEET Sc GO'S 

PERFECTION CEREAL FOOD PRODUCTS. 






I PERFECTION 

PREPARED 

i BUCKWHEAT 

FLOUR 

PREPARED 
IN ONE MINUTE 





Perfeclion Prepared Backwheal Floar, 

PerfeGlion Prepared Breakfast Gake Flsar, 
PerfectiGn M\m\ Gake Floar, 
Perfection Padding Preparation, 
Perfection polled White Qats, 
Perfection (l)heatine, 

^\^^^-HA-I^A 1^^0 013. 

Grocers are autliorized to refund money paid for unsatisfactory goods. 
Wo Griifii-tiiitoe Sntisfjiotioii. 

S- EC. STI^EET cSc CO., 

NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



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BUILT 1663 



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FIRST 

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BUILT IN 1717 



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THE GREEN IN I72O. 



70 TBE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

covered with tar. Solemnly in advance of these sad processions, 
walked a man carrying a lantern, who cried a warning to all way- 
farers to remove out of the way, and following the wagon another 
man bearing a lantern, gave similar warning to all who might other- 
wise overtake the gloomy cortege. For this was a customary mode 
of burial in cases where an inhabitant of the town had died from the 
dreaded small-pox. 

In later days, what thousands and thousands of people have hur- 
ried to the Green for participation in glorious events of peaceful 
days! The grand muster of firemen of this and neighboring cities, 
their engines and hose carriages gleaming with brightly polished 
metal and festooned with flowers, drav/n by the stahvart sons of a 
free and happy commonwealth, is succeeded by exciting contests to 
test the comparative merit of the different engines and the skill, 
activity and strength of the men who man the brakes. As in a dis- 
solving view we see the Green on days of "general training," when 
the uniformed companies put to shame the oddly dressed and unam- 
bitious members of the unwilling militia. Booths at convenient loca- 
tions near the town pump are patronized by lovers of bowls of 
stewed oysters and St. Croix rum. On the grass, gamblers spread 
their sweat-cloths, nic-^rked with numerals, and boldly challenge all 
persons to make a cast with the dice. Eccentric old fellows, whose 
breath smelled of the cider brandy of Valley Forge, or Bethan}', or a 
near Connecticut town, danced in glee and whooped and exhorted, to 
the amusement of school children who were given a holiday. In all 
parts of the Green fights would spring up and the crowd would rush 
for a chance to get near. Small boys who wanted to earn a little 
money for a pack of firecrackers or a cylinder of torpedoes, were to be 
seen everywhere carrying salvers suspended from the neck by a string. 
on which were laid long and thick rolls of molasses candy, made by 
their mothers only on general training days. Then came the days 
of a well appointed military organization and the parades, often in 
company with military bodies from New York, Boston and else- 



THE HIS TOR y OF ' THE ST A TE HOUSE. 7 I 

where, which were viewed with pleasure by thousands of well- 
dressed men, women and children. 

A wonderfully rich history might be written of New Haven's Green, 
could all the rags in Egypt be converted into paper on which to write 
it. Men not yet of middle age, remember the recruiting tents set up 
on the public square — the drilling and marching of the freshly 
enlisted men whose lives were offered for their country, for free gov- 
ernment such as the world had never before known. And after the 
war — only a few years after — when the book-keepers in large manu- 
facturing establishments were making rules for monthly payment of 
wages, and taking toll of workmen for giving them the privilege of 
drawing money for present necessities, and before regular pay day, 
what great crowds of impatient men collected around the band-stand 
at the liberty pole, to hear Peter McGuire and other fervent orators 
declaim of the wrongs of the workingmen ! Happily, some of the 
misunderstandings between men who have capital and men who 
labor hard to live have been dissipated by means of much discussion 
in print and on platforms. Then how lovely has been the sight ot 
hundreds of singing children on days of public commemoration of 
important historical events ! How like a wonderful dream, passed 
away indeed but not forgotten, reappear to " the mind's eye " circum- 
stances of moment and events of high importance, in which various 
prominent citizens, some of whom are dead, have figured. What a 
fearful scream w^as heard on the Green about fifty years ago, when 
James Rice, then a playful boy, was sorely wounded by the wad of a 
cannon fired on a July celebration day ! How ridiculous looked the 
red-faced musician on horseback, whose steed bolted from the ranks 
of the mounted band which preceded the march of the Horse 
Guards, carrying him to a distant part of the Green, in a hot day, the 
sun shining brightly on a brass instrument of music of enormous 
size. The angry passions of an excited mob — trundling of loaded 
ordnance for the destruction of the College buildings — the intention 
foiled by the coolness and nerve of Lyman Bissell, a captain of the 
watch, — helped to stamp a character upon New Haven, not to the 



72 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

advantage of the city or remembered with satisfaction. Pleasanter 
is it to be once more with thousands of interested people who look 
with all their might at the splendors of fireworks which brilliantly 
depict scenes of patriotic heroism, in which George Washington bore 
a manly part. Or pleasanter still to linger in the half-light of a moon- 
light night in June, where lovers speak to each other in quiet voices, 
of the mystery which since the days of Adam and Eve in the blessed 
Garden of Eden, has never been thoroughly explained by not even 
the noblest poet or most learned metaphysician. Millions of dusty, 
tired mortals have quenched their thirst at the old town pump, not 
yet, thank Heaven ! abolished, notwithstanding Dr. Lindsley's analy- 
sis of its cool, crystal water and the efforts of the Board of Health. 
No institution of New Haven has conferred so much comfort upon 
suffering humanity as the pump. Once its case was simply an oblong 
box on end, on which Col. Joe Blakeslee, then a young man, used 
to paste his announcements of steamboat excursions and other popu- 
lar amusements. For this, when Peck Sperry was a Common Coun- 
cilman, in 1862, was substituted a more ornate wooden structure and 
in later years, the taste and good sense of A. Heaton Robertson was 
so exercised in the Common Council as to give us the beautiful can- 
opy and pump, both of iron, which now adorn the corner of the 
Green. It would not be an unpleasant act to raise a subscription for 
a testimonial to Mr. Douglas, of Middletown, who presented the 
pump to the city. The fact is, however, that an"ybody can give any- 
thing to the city and get no reward except a free puff in the news- 
papers or the City Year Book. For New Haven is what a New- 
York " drummer " will ever speak of as "a very conservative town." 
Had it not been so, the Naugatuck railroad would have terminated 
in New Haven instead of Bridgeport, and perhaps Connecticut would 
proudly boast of two capitals instead of one. Fashions change. 
Hon. William W. Boardman could hardly be persuaded to give up 
his objections to having the granite posts at the entrances to the 
Green removed a sufficient distance apart to allow a lady wearing a 
hoop skirt under her dress to pass between them, and at this day the 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. "J ^ 

people are talking of pulling up and removing all the posts entirely 
around the Green, together with the fences. 

Men who were boys fifty years ago, recollect the long green gowns 
w^orn by the artillerymen who fired the salutes on the public square 
every Fourth of July. The veteran gunner, Aaron Belden, who for 
more than half a century has cared for the city's field-pieces and 
fired them on all important occasions, is still in fair health. How 
the old six pounders have spoken in the past in response to the deep 
feelings of the people ! The firing was on the western half of the 
Green when the State voted for the Fourteenth Amendment to the 
United States Constitution. The guns have thundered at whig as 
well as loco-foco victories, and upon days of general sorrow and 
rejoicing. They have spoken in welcome to many a distinguished 
man. 

In the early light of August 3, 1837, there lay, in a great heap on 
the Green near the town pump, hundreds of the long, leather "fire- 
buckets," one or more of which w^ere owned by every householder, 
and on each was painted its owner's name. Those who were out of 
bed all night, watching the destruction of a large part of the busi- 
ness centre of New Haven, had .seen a long line of women passing 
these buckets from one to another, as they were used to fill the fire 
engines with water from the town pump, the women passing the 
empty buckets and the men the full ones. From a little after eight 
o'clock in the evening of August 3, the skies had been lighted by the 
conflagration which had threatened to burn down a large part of the 
town. A strong wind blowing from the south scattered pieces of 
burning shingles over the roofs of buildings more than half a mile 
away and fires were kindled on the top of many houses. All night 
those who had staid at home were busy pouring water upon the 
blankets and bed-quilts which were spread on roofs to protect them 
from the falling of burnins^ brands. The fi.re broke out in the rear 
of the furniture workshop of J. B. Bowditch, over which was the 
sign-paintmg shop of Yemmans & Morehouse, in the centre of the 
block bounded by Orange, Crown, Church and Chapel streets. In less 



S. M. MUNSON & CO. 

FAMILY PIE BAKERS 

362 to 370 EXCHANGE ST. 

New York Depot, 203 and 205 E. 2 1 st Street. 



To New Haven must be ascribed the honor of being the location of the first 
bakery devoted to the making of pies exclusively for public sale, and the pioneer of 
this now extensive industry was Amos Munson, who commenced in a small way 
June 10, 1844, the manufacture of pies, chiefly for sale in New Vork City. From 
that time on the business increased until, in 1S49, a branch factory was established 
in New York, which is still maintained. In 1872 the present firm style was 
adopted, since which time the business has been controlled by Mr. S. M. Munson, 
son of the founder, and its phenomenal growth and extensive trade, now so impor- 
tant, is largely due to the enterprising management of this gentleman, who may be 
said to have been brought up in the business, as he has almost continually been 
engaged in it since he was eleven years of age. The principal secret of the success 
of this firm may be attributed to their uniform efforts to produce good goods. 
There are pies and there are pies — but the pies made by this firm are good, palata- 
ble, wholesale, carefully and cleanly made and salable goods. No trash is used, 
but on the contrary the best materials and the freshest fruits only are employed 
in their manufacture, and they are unquestionably fully equal to the best home- 
made pies and are as carefully prepared. All kinds of pies are made, and are dis- 
tributed fresh to the trade daily. The facilities of the house in this city embrace 
a specially erected factory 146 x 47 feet in dimensions, which is equipped with all 
available machinery, and has a capacity for the manufacture of 6,000 pies daily. 
The factory is a model of neatness, and the firm take pleasure in showing their 
customers their methods of manufacture. The trade of the house extends through- 
out Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York, and deliveries are made in all the 
principal cities, shipments being made from here daily by rail. An industrv of 
this character adds much to the reputation of New Haven as a producer of first- 
class products, and the enterprise and energy which has brought it to so prosper- 
ous a condition from the smallest beginnings, is alike creditable to its management 
and to the city in which it has found a congenial field for the display of its talents. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 75 

than an hour the whole range of wood buildings in Chapel street, 
generally occupied as stores, was in flames. Several houses on Grove 
and other streets were set on fire. By eleven o'clock the fire reached 
the last store on the west of the wood range in Chapel street which 
adjoined the oil and paint store of Gardner Morse. The whole 
range of buildings on the opposite side of the street from the New 
Haven Bank to Exchange Place, were most of them damaged by the 
fire. The firemen of Fair Haven were promptly on hand to assist in 
preventing what it was feared would be the destruction of half the 
buildings in the city. Water was obtained from the canal, which 
then flowed where now^ rest the rails of the Northampton Railroad 
company, and from the force-pump at George Rowland's mill, which 
stood on ground now covered by the City Market, or the old railroad 
station. Some of the Chapel street stores were protected in a 
measure by the large shade trees which were set along that thorough- 
fare. It was a night of terror and distress for all the people of the 
city. Yale students carried the contents of Durrie & Peck's book- 
store to the Green, from the building now occupied by H. H. Peck, 
a grandson of one of the firm. Other merchandise to some extent, 
was carried to places likely to be safe. Men and women w^orked as 
they had never worked before, to help subdue the fire. Happening as 
if did, when all business had suffered from that season of depression 
historically remembered as "hard times," the fire was indeed a 
calamity. Twenty buildings were burned. The sufferers on Orange 
street were S. M. Bassett, looking-glasses ; J. B. Bowditch, furniture ; 
Yemmans & Morehouse, painters. On Chapel street, William A. 
Thompson, dry goods; Beriah Bradley, boots and shoes; Misses S. 
& M. Parker, milliners; Miss Tyler, milliner; Samuel Fairchild, 
ladies' French shoes ; G. W. & A. G. Tuttle, dry goods ; William 
Fairchild, ladies' shoes; Norris Candee, tailor; William C. Baldwin, 
boots and shoes; Bostwick & Treadway, harness makers; H, Reed, 
grocer; Horace Mansfield, book-binder; Giles Mansfield, hatter ; 
Jonathan Foot, boots : William A. Law, thread and needles; Demas 
P. Tucker, fruit. These were on the south side of the street. Qn 



^6 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

the north side, the sufferers were, Samuel Noyes, of the Apothe- 
caries' Hall ; Miss Scott & Mrs. Langdon, milliners; Mark Woosler, 
grocer ; John Beecher, tinner, and D. W. Davenport, toys and fancy 
goods. The latter was a brother of the celebrated actor of that 
name, who in youth had been a pupil in one of John E. Lovell's 
elocution classes. The lire injured the cabinet warehouse of Lines 
>i: Chamberlain. Dyer White, who lived in a fine house on Orange, 
below Chapel street, lost a barn and outhouses. In the rear of his 
property, there was a ten-pin alley, the entrance to which was on 
Church street. This was burned, and Mr. White is reported to have 
said the morning after the fire that he was glad that the '' rolling j^in 
place " was gone. The rolling of the balls on the alley could be 
heard at his house late at night, when most citizens wanted their 
sleep. About this time tiie city was kept in a constant state of 
alarm by incendiary fires. In one day there were fifteen fire alarms. 
So many barns were burned that the general appearance of New 
Haven was a good deal changed. There were patrols of citizens and 
students, watching for fires, and with the hope of catching the 
incendiaries. 

There was a notable conflict on the west section of the Green, 
October 30, 1841, between the firemen and the Yale students. The 
latter were kicking foot-ball and they trampled on the hose. Firemen 
and students had a lively battle, in which dangerous weapons were 
displayed. The students were defeated, and afterward the College 
authorities paid seven hundred dollars to the city, in damages for 
the destruction of fire engine No. 7, located on Chapel above 
College street. Fifty years ago collisions between the town-born 
boys and the students were frequent, and sometimes dangerous to 
life. February 9, 1858, a quarrel between members of engine 
company No. 2, and the Crocodile club of students, boarding on the 
corner of High and Elm streets, led to the death of William Miles, 
the assistant foreman of the engine company, wdio was shot. Hose 
wrenches, pistols, clubs and daggers were used with effect, during 
the fight. On one occasion, when the firemen were exercising on 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 'J -J 

the upper Green, the students challenged them to fight. Each 
College class had in those days its major and minor " bully," and 
the challenge was given by one of those officials. It was instantly 
accepted. Constable Chauncey Barnes collared the " bully," and 
walked him rapidly toward Temple street on the way to the office 
of a Justice of the Peace. The young man resisted, and got his legs 
around a post at Temple street. Barnes dragged him off, however, 
and afterward seizing two students, each by the coat collar, knocked 
their heads together until they lost all interest in either Greek root^ 
or the three conic sections. Bv the wav, the students bore a hand in 
pulling down the walls of the second of New Haven's Slate Houses. 
A long rope had been made fast to a part of the building where the 
walls had previously been undermined, and the students pulled on 
the rope until the walls all fell inwardly, the fall making a loud noise 
and raising a cloud of dust. 

The Green \vas thronged with people the 25th of April, 1838, 
when WMS celebrated the two hundredth anniversary of the settle- 
ment of the towm. The procession started from the south portico of 
the State House, and was remarkable for the large number of 
private schools represented by their respective pupils in line. When 
we read the names of the marshals, most of whom were well known 
to men now sixty years of age, how much we cannot fail to reflect, 
npon the brevity of life. Here is the list : William J. Forbes, 
William H. Jones, Henry Huggins, Joseph N. Clarke, Enos A. Pres- 
cott, Charles A. Ingersoll, Robinson S. Hinman, William W. Board- 
man, Thomas Bennett, Charles Robinson, Gad S. Gilbert, John 
Daggett, Frederick Croswell, Thomas B. Jewett, R. M. Clarke, 
Henry Hotchkiss, Minott A. Osborn, N. C. W'hiting, James Punder- 
ford, James F. Babcock, W. P. N. Fitzgerald, C. W. Curtis, Guy C. 
Hotchkiss, Charles Monson, Prentiss R. Law. In the procession, 
besides civic societies, were the artillery, Capt. Morris Tyler, and the 
Grays, Capt. Elijah Thompson. 

Alas, for the good old fashioned days when the conscience of the 
office-holder was a better security for good administration of affairs 



^8 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

than all the more modern epigrams of moral reformers! So late as 
1833, when William Mix was town agent, he bought from himself, 
certain commodities used in the almshouse. Mr. Mix as town agent 
bought from Mr. Mix as merchant, both sugar and molasses, and no 
committee of citizens were months in preparing a report of his 
transactions to present to the people. "Under democratic reform," 
said the Register of that year, " the overseeing of the almshouse is 
no money making concern." And the taxpayers were abundantly 
satisfied. But the workingmen were fretsome and held meetings to 
discuss the hard times, and Jacksonians and Whigs were putting out 
sound arguments for the purpose of gaining their votes. November 
7th of that year, a committee consisting of Dennis Kimberly, Sidney 
Hull, Silas Mix and John B. Robertson, who were appointed to 
invite Henry Clay to come to New Haven and make an address on 
his American system of protection to home industries, received a 
letter from Mr. Clay, from Hartford, saying that he could not come. 
Mr. Mix w'as elected town agent again, in the same year, although 
the subject, before election, of »uch animadversion and adverse 
criticism as appears in part of a newspaper editorial which said : 
" How many of the poor paupers who were left to shift for them- 
selves during the prevalence of the cholera, would vote for William 
Mix on account of his regiets for them, if they w^ere living ? But 
they were poor people and of course of no consequence in his 
estimation. ' Let 'em die.' He saved some mustard, camphire, 
stockings, etc., for the town by letting the expenses fall upon those 
who possessed more humanity." In this comment upon the course 
of the town agent, the reader will see a division of the paupers into 
two classes, as if, for instance, there might be to-day two such classes 
— one, the class who might be called ''God's poor," and another, the 
poor of the Associated Charities' wood-yard. 

The campaign on behalf of William H. Harrison for President, 
offered the late William Goodwin, afterward the legislative statis- 
tician, an opportunity to peddle Harrison medals on New Haven 
Green on an occasion of a grand Whig rally. Big log cabins on 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 79 

wheels and barrels presumably containing hard cider, were marked 
objects of interest in every Whig procession. December 31, 1836, 
a committee appointed to find out wliy the State House leaked, 
reported that its roof was too flat. Two days before this report was 
made in the House of Representatives, a resolution which did not 
pass appointed a committee to inquire into the expediency of the 
State reUnquishing all title and interest in the State House in New 
Haven, to the city and county, and to locate the same at Middle- 
town. About this time A. H. Maltby, the bookseller, was disposing 
of copies of the " Memoirs of Mary Lyon," printed by Hitchcock 
& Stafford. Throughout the two hundred and fifty pages of this 
book, written in the form of a diary, we find the doubt, the sadness, 
the unhappiness of studying the writings of those stronger theolo- 
gians of the school of John Calvin, whose presentation of the 
doctrine of original sin, of foreordination and election, worried, 
it is feared, many souls as gentle as Mary Lyon's. She was a 
daughter of Col. William Lyon, who lived in this city, and her 
remains were brought here from Charleston, S. C, for interment. 
The melancholy taint in her writings was generally ascribed by her 
biographer to her constitutional temperament, rather than to doc- 
trinal mysticism, or religion itself. 

In 1837 the banks, with the exception of the City bank, suspended 
specie payment, and there was much hardship among wage earners 
who were forced to take payment for work in orders on merchants 
for everything they needed. The problem of discount for cash was 
very much complicated. At the city election of the same year 570 
votes were cast, Henry C. Flagg being chosen mayor, and Caleb 
Brintnall, alderman and judge. It is remarkable that the Legislature 
in 1838 adjourned June ist, after a session of only four weeks, dur- 
ing which time more important public business had been attended to 
than by any previous Legislature. Gen. Dennis Kimberly had 
been elected to the United States Senate, in place of John M. Niles, 
of Hartford, to serve six years. The gubernatorial message of Wil- 
liam W. Ellsworth, that year, was given to the Legislature by himself 



So THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

in person, in a tone of lofty and calm eloquence. It is estimated by 
good judges of reform in public affairs, that the Legislature, by work- 
in'^ in davlio'iit and by candle-light, saved six thousand dollars in 
expenses to the State. Five-sixths of the House and the entire 
Senate, with only one dissenting voice, voted " that the bill called 
the Sub-treasury or Independent Treasury bill, now pending before 
Congress, is, in the opinion of this General Assembly, in its charac- 
ter and tendency, contrary to the spirit of our institutions, dangerous 
to our liberties and destructive of our dearest interests, and will, 
if passed into a law, still further derange the currency, prostrate 
business, spread ruin and desolation through all classes of society 
and change the present distress into a settled and deep rooted 
despair." This being the view of the Legislature, the following was 
adopted : 

'■^Resolved, That it is the will of this General Assembly, that our Senators and 
Representatives in Congress vote against said bill, or any other containing similar 
provisions, and use all legal and proper means to prevent the passage thereof, and 
that they be hereby so instructed." 

June 27, 1838, Rev. Samuel W. S. Button was ordained pastor of 
the North Church. There w^as a meeting held at this church, the 
22d of March, 1856, which had a po\verful effect upon the destinies 
of the country. Henry Ward Beecher made a stirring address. K 
company of New Haven men, of which Charles B. Lines was the 
most conspicuous member, were about to immigrate to Kansas, then 
in a political condition of a remarkable character. Larger books of 
history must be consulted for a fuller account of the national legis- 
lation touching the interests of slaveholders. Said the New Haven 
Jounial a?id Courier., in part explanation of the murders which were 
being committed in and near the borders of Kansas: "The passage 
of the Kansas-Nebraska act was the first blow struck. Before this 
there were no cries of disunion." The democratic New Haven 
Register denied this position to be true, and said : " Instead of the 
decisive movement taking its origin in the Kansas-Nebraska act, it 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 8 1 

dates back as far as the Hartford convention, and from first to last 
has occupied the same ground. It is not as against any particular 
act of Congress that the traitors plant themselves ; their hostihty is 
to the whole system of government — the Constitution itself — the 
fundamental law of the whole country. It is the same that Wendell 
Phillips declared in Brewster Hall, to be a wicked instrument, and 
which Garrison, the high priest of the gang, calls ' a compact with 
Hell.' " The condition of things in Kansas was such that it was 
practically left to the people there to say whether they should be 
admitted into the union as a free or slave State. Men in the inter- 
ests of slavery flocked into the territory from Missouri, and there 
were bloody collisions between them and settlers from the free 
States. President Buchanan appointed a man named Geary, gover- 
nor, and he was supported by United States troops. The governor 
was a pronounced pro-slavery man at first, but afterward used his 
best endeavors to preserve the peace, and he appears to have acted 
fairly toward the free State settlers. But there was much bloodshed, 
causing sorrow and indignation in many Northern homes. A cry for 
help reached the northern cities. From this struggle may be dated 
the real beginning of the war which closed with the surrender of 
General Lee to General Grant. New Haven had always found in the 
South a market for carriages and other merchandise and there were 
citizens whose sympathies were with the South. Other citizens were 
opposed to the further extension of slavery and took the ground that 
it was protected by the United States Constitution. The New 
Haven Register and an important part of the Democratic party, 
claimed that the North had no right to meddle with the slavery 
question. March 22d, 1856, the Register thus makes mention of the 
meeting of friends of the white cause. 

"A novel kind of a religious meeting was held in the North 
Church Thursday evening. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher made an 
address to a company about to immigrate to Kansas, the admission 
fee to which was twenty-five cents. We did not hear the reverend 
gentleman's remarks, but from what is reported in the Coiwier con- 
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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 83 

elude the Scriptures were slightly paraphrased so as to read ' war on 
earth and ill-will to men.' A contribution of Sharpe's rifles was 
taken up, and some fifty of those potent, Christianizing instruments 
(which some assert are more potent than the Bible) were promised. 
Our advice to the immigrants is, to be very judicious, and not to be 
deluded into a use of them against the laws of the territory. This 
turning of Christian churches into military rendezvous and preaching 
the efficacy of rifles over the gospel of peace, is of modern origin, 
having its origin in the famous ' three thousand priests ' power pro- 
test against the Nebraska bill. From that day to this, that class of 
political clergymen have been noticeable for their contempt for the 
staid old gospel ways of their fathers— their neglect of old-fashioned 
ways of creating religious interest — and a ' moral bully ' swagger 
over worldly affairs in which they are pre-eminently ignorant." 
The same paper, March 17, said editorially ; " But the old Missouri 
compromise act, the repeal of which brought out the three thousand 
priests with their profane protest, assumed to legislate on the subject 
of slavery in the territories. It drew a black line through all our 
territorial possessions and allowed slavery forever on one side, but 
prohibited it on the other. And though it allowed the institution in 
all parts south of 36"^ 30 , it said that sovereign States, even when 
forced from the other parts, should not come into the Union on 
equal terms with the rest. All this must have been in violation of 
the Constitution, for that instrument, according to the Hartford reso- 
lutions, contains ' no grant of power to the federal government in re- 
spect to slavery.' That government therefore had no right at all to 
legislate about slavery in the territories — either to uphold or defend 
it south of 36° 30', or prohibit it north of 36^ 30'. The whole matter 
was wisely left by the framers of the Constitution, for the people in 
different localities to settle for themselves, and when they come in as 
States, to require no more of them than that they do not conflict 
with the Constitution of the United States. And yet, for saying this 
two years ago. Senators and members of Congress were hung in 
effigy." 



84 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

At the meeting in the North Church, the people were warmly 
interested in helping toward the establishment of the doctrine of 
freedom in Kansas. The first offer of a rifle for the immigrants, was 
made by Professor Silliman, Sr,, of Yale. A junior in college, offered 
one for his class. Professor Silliman, upon this, looked around and 
remarked that there were other classes in college. A rifle was then 
pledged for the senior class. William H. Russell, who had become 
identified with the American or "Know-Nothing" political party, a 
candidate for Senator from the New Haven district, gave one. 
Stephen D. Pardee, a Whig and favorable to the Know-Nothings, 
gave one. The rifles cost $25 each. Deacon Harvey Hall was one 
of the immigrants, and Rev. Dr. Dutton gave him a Bible and rifle. 
Some of the contributors of rifles were Charles Ives, three ; Thomas 
R. Trowbridge, four; Dr. J. I. Howe, Dr. Stephen G. Hubbard, Mr. 
Killam, Prof. W. A. Norton, John G. North, William Kingsjey, 
Lucius Olmstead, one each; and there were given twenty-seven in all. 
The Regisiei- called this affair " The North Church Kansas Swindle 
Meeting." April rst, after an enthusiastic meeting in Brewster Hall, 
the immigrants, numbering sixty New Haveners, marched to the 
steamboat and embarked on their way to the scene of warfare. 
Among those who went was George H. Coe, who afterward served 
as a soldier in the government army, during the great war. While in 
Kansas, letters from him showing the condition of affairs there, were 
made public through the newspapers. A school teacher named 
Farren, one of the immigrants, soon returned to New Haven. In a 
short time Deacon Hall returned. But most of the party commenced 
to build houses and till the land, keeping themselves alert to repel the 
attacks of the "border ruffians," as they were called, from Missouri, 
who intended to make Kansas a slave State. 

When Mrs. Louisa Caroline Tuthill named New Haven the "City 
of Elms," she builded probably better than she knew, for at the time 
of her marriage in 18 18, the lady could have hardly foreseen the 
great value to the city which the trees have been. Henry Howe, the 
author of " Historical Collections of Ohio," and other works, in a 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 85 

carefully written paper upon the subject, says that the two trees 
shown on a map by General Wadsworth as " trees planted in 1686," 
were the earliest elms known in local history and were placed on 
Elm, just below Temple street, in front of the residence of James 
Pierpont, Gentleman. Rev. Leonard Bacon in one of his historical 
discourses, mentions these elms as having been the free-will offering 
of William Cooper, who having nothing else to offer, brought the 
saplings into town on his shoulder, and planted them before the 
minister's house. Under these trees in 1726, forty years afterward, 
Jonathan Edwards spoke mingled words of love and piety in the ear 
of Sarah Pierpont. Under their shade, when some sixty summers 
(1746) had passed, Whitefield stood on a platform and lifted up that 
voice, the tones of which lingered so long in thousands of hearts. 
These trees were standing in 1825, the last one of them being taken 
down in 1840. Prof. William H. Brewer, of the Sheffield Scientific 
department of Yale, proved that the oldest of two trees in front of 
Battell Chapel, corner of Elm and College streets, cut down in 1877- 
79, was set out in 1738 or '39, w^hen about ten years old. A city 
meeting in 1787 approved of a Common Council order previously 
made, for laying out Temple to Grove street. Professor Twdning in 
1808, saw James Hillhouse setting out elms, between the Center and 
North churches. The inner rows of elms on the east and west side 
of the lower Green were planted by David Austin, but most of the 
tree planting on the two sections of the Green was credited to James 
Hillhouse, who obtained the trees from his Meriden farm. Mr. 
Austin was assisted in his work by boys and girls. Caroline, a 
daughter of Elias Shipman, merchant, who lived in the building occu- 
pied in 1889 by the Quinnipiac Club, watered the roots and with 
her own hands planted one of the trees. One of the Pierpont elms 
lived a hundred and sixty years. The fence around the Green 
encloses a little more than sixteen acres of land. The distance 
around the fence is 163 feet less than two-thirds of a mile. There 
used to be a pen for pigs near the Elm and Church street corner, the 
Green at that time being covered with cobblestones and ditches. 



86 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

Indians gathered sticks for arrows from the alders growing near the 
southeast corner ; cows belonging to the town almshouse pastured on 
the west side of the Green as late as 1830 and dilapidated horses 
owned by the late Sylvester Potter, found a living on the Green a 
number of years since, and down to the time of building the iron 
fence. For a few years there was a market house near the southeast 
corner of the Green, built in 1785, but the Green was not enclosed 
until 1798. In 1799 a subscription was made for levelling the Green 
and in 1803, James Hill house, Isaac Beers and Thaddeus Beecher 
were a committee to audit the accounts of David Austin, who had 
paid out money for railing and ornamenting the Green, the city 
paying something toward the expenses. The fence of wood-posts 
and a top and bottom rail, taken down about forty-two years ago, 
were used to fence the Green in Milford. 

Admiral Foote Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, in April, 
1879, adopted the following : 

''Resolved, That Admiral Foote Post, No. 17, Department of Connecticut, 
respectfully petition the Honorable Court of Common Council of the city of New 
Haven, in behalf of the soldiers and sailors of the late war, to set apart and dedi- 
cate the five-sided lot of ground just south of the liberty pole on the Old Green, 
for a site for a memorial fountain or monument to the citizens who enlisted from 
the Town or City of New Haven, and died in the service of their country in the 
War of the Revolution, in the War of 181 2, the War with Mexico and the War 
for the Union and the suppression of the Rebellion." 

The petition was granted and the designated plot was formally 
dedicated, Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon delivering an oration. The 
dedicatory speech was made by Department Commander Charles E. 
Fowler, and there was singing by children of the public schools un- 
der the skillful leadership of Professor Benjamin Jepson. Mayor 
Hobart B. Bigelow presided. Afterward, the plans were changed 
and the monument was built on East Rock Park. It is no feet 
high, and serves as a landmark for sailors passing through Long 
Island Sound. A full history and description of the monument 
would make a fair-sized book. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 8/ 

The Boys' club was founded in 1872 by William Franklin, the 
tailor, recently deceased. Part of the club became a night school 
under his supervision, for teaching boys whose occupation during the 
day prevented their attendance at the public schools. The other 
part was continued as a Boys' club, which was maintained principally 
to keep boys out of the streets and from loitering on corners and at 
the doors of places of public amusement, in the evenings. The 
night school became the charge of the Board of Education after a 
few years. In 1874, William Gale, superintendent of the Boys' club, 
brought it under the care of the United Workers. In the fall of 
1874, John C. Collins, since ordained an evangelist, had charge of 
the club, which met in a building corner of Church and Center 
streets, now occupied by the Mechanics' Bank. In the summer 
and fall of 1875, ^^^ ^^"t) was quartered in the Senate chamber of 
the State House, an adjoining room being occupied by the Young 
Men's club. On the floor below, in the vacated room of the 
Superior Court, was established at this time, the Young Men's 
Institute, but the books of their library suffered from the dampness 
of the walls and were nearly ruined. The Boys' club was ousted 
from the State House in 1879, when Prof. E. Whitney Blake 
obtained the lease of the building from the city, without paying 
lent, for ten years. Here was established his Museum of Art and 
Industry, which as a means of education for the people proved a 
failure. Mr. Collins gave up his superintendency of the Boys' club, 
which found quarters on the corner of George and Church street, 
and other places. Rev. R. A. Torrey becoming superintendent in 
1877-78. A few years ago the club got back into the State House 
and occupied the northeast basement room until the order to pull 
down the building made a removal necessary. The removal of the 
building was much regretted by the supporters of the club, as by 
many other citizens. 

Every pleasant day while the State House was being pulled 
down, Mr. Joseph Short, a carpenter, who helped in building it, 
sat on one of the benches of the Green and conversed about things 



88 THE HISTORY OP THE STATE HOUSE. 

of local interest. From him and other aged citizens have been 
gathered many anecdotes and reminiscences of local history of the 
years of the Slate House's existence. When the building was com- 
pleted, the architect, in order that its beautiful proportions might be 
seen to advantage from Chapel street, desired permission to remove 
from where it stood, a few feet from the south front, a large elm tree. 
Permission was refused, but shortly afterward somebody girdled 
the tree and killed it, so that it had to be removed. After the 
planting of the maple trees on the western section of the Green, be- 
tween the churches and the State House, during the mayoraliy of 
Henry Peck, a number of them were girdled, but the wounds being 
covered by cow manure under orders of Mayor Skinner, they were 
all saved alive. The canker worms having for some years ruined 
the foliage of the elms, it was decided during the mayoralty of Aaron 
N. Skinner to plant maples on the upper part of the Green, west of 
the State House. The trees were set out by Chester Ailing, of 
Hamden. The idea was to cut out the alternate trees as soon as 
they should be of sufficient size to make a good shade and set in their 
place elms. This has not been done, but the suitable time for the 
improvement has arrived. Contractor Montgomery has saved the 
city the trouble of removmg one of them as it was crushed by a fall 
of part of the east wall of the State House. The handsome oak 
tree north of the west end of Trinity Church, was a gift to the city 
from Richard Fellowes, who has since died. It came from England 
and may live hundreds of years. 

Elam Ailing, who had the work of transporting the marble for 
constructing the State House, while unloading some of it, had a leg 
broken. Inside the building a scaffold on which six men were at 
work, plastering, fell, but none of the men were hurt. One of the 
workmen engaged in plastering the Senate chamber, for a gymnastic 
exercise descended a ladder head downward. As he passed down, 
the ladder, just above his hands, parted rung by rung but he reached 
the lioor safely. One morning, Mr. William Thompson, with the 
blow of a lath, killed a partridge which had alighted on the top of a 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 8g 

scaffold pole. While he was removing a stick of timber from a pile 
which had been taken from the second State House, a rabbit 
jumped into sight. The animal was penned and the next day the 
students had a rabbit hunt on the Green, which made great sport 
for them, but poor bunny lost his life. There was no Henry Bergh 
in 1829, but societies in his name have in later years been estab- 
lished in most of the States of the Union and cruelty to animals- is 
now generally considered as criminal. A contributor to the funds 
of Mr. Bergh's New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals was the late Philip Maret, one of the benefactors of the 
general hospital and the orphan asylum. He was much opposed to 
the use of the check rein by coachmen in the employ of wealthy 
persons, but to this day horses continue to be cruelly treated in 
that particular. 

Samuel A. Foot was chosen governor in 1834, but not by the 
people, his canvass having been conducted against the Jacksonian 
and anti-Masonic forces. In 1836 a good deal of interest was ex- 
cited among New Haven's sick people by the practice of a botanic 
or Thomsonian system of medicine. The founder of the system 
was not a man of college education, but his doctrine and subse- 
quently the doctrine of homoeopathic physicians so influenced the 
practice of medicine by the regular or allopathic doctors, that the 
giving to patients large doses of calomel, antimony, opium and some 
other drugs, and the blistering and bleeding of the sick in cases of 
fever and other disorders was greatly modified, and is now generally 
unfashionable. At an exciting town election in 1836, there were 
1276 votes polled. Benjamin Beecher was elected First Selectman 
by 806 votes to 495 cast for Leverett Griswold. In December of the 
same year, the First Baptist Church, now Proctor's Opera House, 
was the scene of confusion and uproar little becoming the city or the 
place. Sunday night, in consequence of the delivery of an address 
on the question of the abolition of slavery, by a Mr. Rand of Boston, 
the front of the church was assaulted and stained by throwing 
spoiled eggs against it. The rioters also assaulted the dwelling 



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^ THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 9 1 

house of Rev. Mr. Jocelyn in a brutal and cowardly manner, fright- 
ening the women who were at home.- It was dangerous that year 
for anybody to publicly preach abolitionism. The paths across the 
Green in winter were not then cleared from snow, and there were 
few citizens attending church on Sunday who did not first apply to 
their boots a coating of David Rilter's water-proof. 

It superseded the black-ball sold by Riley Nott, in a small wood 
building, on the site of the Cutler Building, corner of Church and 
Chapel streets. Children carried foot stoves to church on Sunday 
certainly as late as 1840, and there are some of those once useful 
household articles in the garrets of old New Haven homes to this 
day. In earlier days, when the weather was pleasant, it was custom- 
ary for young ladies to carry their shoes on Sunday until near the 
church, and remove them after service and go home barefoot. 
When they had not the convenience of a " sabba-day house" in 
which to prepare their dinner, it was customary to take their food 
w^ell prepared and a noggin of cider to church, which had their 
assigned place in the pew. Mr. Ritter was the inventor and manu- 
facturer of a large, heart-shaped pasteboard fan, painted yellow, and 
of a Sunday these, which had to a great extent displaced the fans 
made of turkey feathers, were wielded with grace and effectiveness 
by worshippers in the Center Church half a century ago. And the 
creed of the Center Church was in those days to be found in the 
" Assembly's Shorter Catechism," one of the questions and its 
answer being here given : 

Q. " Did God leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery? " 
Ans. " God having out of his mere good pleasure from all eternity elected some 
to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of a 
state of sin and misery, and to bring them into a state of salvation by a Re- 
deemer." 

In the Amherst declaration will be found the creed, substantiallv 
of the Center Church, less' than half a century ago. In this we find 
a statement of the faith of Congregational churches, a part of which 
is reprinted ; 



92 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. ^ 

'• I, moreover, believe that God, according to the counsel of his own will and for 
his own glory, hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass and that all beings, 
actions and events, both in the natural and moral world are under his providen- 
tial direction ; that God's decrees perfectly consist with human liberty ; God's 
universal agency with the agency of man, and man's dependence with his account- 
ability; that man has understanding and corporeal strength to do all that God 
requires of him, so that nothing but the sinner's aversion to holiness prevents his 
salvation ; that it is the prerogative of God to bring good out of evil and that he 
will cause the wrath and rage of wicked men and devils to praise him, and that 
all the evil which has existed and will forever exist in the moral system will 
eventually be made to promote a most important purpose untler the wise and per- 
fect administration of that Almighty Being, who will cause all things to work for 
his own glory and thus fulfill all his pleasure." 

The dry goods clerks' protective association, following the course 
adopted by associations of men engaged in what are called produc- 
tive industries, had a grand rally on the Green July 13, 1885. They 
had a band of music and speeches were made. The purpose of the 
clerks was to reduce the hours of labor and to compel the dry goods 
stores to close at six o'clock on Monday evenings. They attempted 
by means of a circular distributed among the people, to compel a 
firm of dry goods merchants, by threats of a boycott, to accede to 
their demand. The affair caused some excitement. 

The Whigs had a grand celebration, the Fourth of July, 1834. The 
procession moved from Hamilton Hall to the North Church. The 
marshals were J. C. Parker, Justin Redfield, Col. E. E. Jarman, D, 
VV. Buckingham, Levi Gilbert, 2d, and J. Pierpont Foster. The 
Grays' band made music. In the church the choir did the singing, 
under the direction of Ailing Brown and Professor Geib. The 
Declaration of Independence was read by James F. Babcock. The 
oration was by Aaron N. Skinner. Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon made a 
prayer as did Rev. Dr. Day. The procession marched to the State 
House and the people sat down to a fine dinner prepared by Knight 
Read. There were toasts and speeches of a patriotic sentiment and 
it was altogether a glorious day for all Whigs. 

The history of what has been called the American move- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 93 

ment in politics will be found at length in the newspapers, 
and other prints of 1856. The Register of March 24, of that 
year, said : " The opinion is universal that the ticket of Minor, 
Sperry & Co., is the weakest in talent ever offered to the free- 
men of Connecticut." Nevertheless, Mr. Minor and Mr. Sperry, 
together with John Woodruff, 2d, who belonged to that party, 
had a reasonable share of political honor and success. Mr. Wood- 
ruff when in Congress, made a speech, published in the news- 
papers, condemning the assault of Congressman Brooks, of South 
Carolina, on Charles Sumner. He afterward served his country as a 
collector of internal revenue. Mr. Sperry, postmaster during the 
administration of President Lincoln, and for about a quarter of a 
century, is still accredited generally with holding great political 
power. He has been the Warwick of the political parties, and has 
advanced and retarded the fortunes of very many ambitious men. As 
partner in the building firm of Smith & Sperry, he has done much 
toward erecting some of the handsomest buildings in the city, and 
his knowledge of Freemasonry and of other institutions which have 
had an influence upon society, is very great. He believes in having 
the Bible read in the public schools. But our system of education 
does not permit of the Bible reading, and the talent of the Board of 
Education has not been so exercised as to secure for the pupils of 
the public schools some kind of a manual in which they can read 
that they must not lie. A teacher, in apologizing for what is not 
taught in the schools said : " If we read a book in which theft, false- 
hood, and other misdemeanors are shown to be wrong, we should at 
once be accused of teaching the Bible covertly." Therefore there is 
no such book, and the success of the rule of honor must depend upon 
the example set by the superintendent, teachers and janitors of the 
schools, except of course such instruction as is given the children 
outside of school. 

The year in which the building of the State House was com- 
menced, was pregnant with crude theories of governmental finance. 
During the "hard times" of '36, Nicholas Biddle, of the United 



94 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

States Bank, wrote a letter to John Quincy Adams that the main 
cause of the prevailing distress was the mismanagement of the gov- 
ernment revenue in two respects — the mode of executing the Distri- 
bution law and the order requiring specie for the public lands. In 
the letter he mentioned the payment of $9,000,000 of public debt in 
1829 (the year when the State House was commenced), at a time of 
unusual pressure ; but the withdrawal of the amount from the banks 
of the country made no trouble, as it was averted by an early antici- 
pation of it at the Treasury, aided by the judicious management of 
the officers of the United States Bank. 

Under the leafless boughs of the elms on the Green, have walked 
in former days, in celebration of the annual Thanksgiving, the fore- 
fathers in the town, unaccompanied by the women of their household, 
who were left at home to cook the Thanksgiving dinner. It was 
entirely outre for women to be seen on the streets at such times of 
religious rejoicing. When in spring the yellow birds, blue birds, 
wrens and other kinds of birds now rarely seen on New Haven 
Green, were gayly singing from every tree-top, there walked in the 
pleasant shade, together with a race of narrow-chested and rather 
short-breathed students of divinity, many men of much renown. 
Possibly the saunterer met a spare, neat-looking gentleman, dressed 
in snuff-colored clothes and wearing a long blue camlet cloak, and 
on his head a leather cap with a flat top. Or he may have 
exchanged a '' good morning," with an under-sized gentleman with 
sandy hair and blue eyes, who stepped quickly over the grass, as 
though on an errand requiring despatch. One would have been 
James Gates Percival, and the other, Hezekiah Augur. One made 
the geological survey for the State ; did years of work on a large 
Latin lexicon, for which another man was glorified ; wrote tender 
poems ; helped on Webster's dictionary ; made a unique collection 
of runic ballads and assisted in many literary labors. The other 
made a noble bust portrait of Chief-Justice Ellsworth ; the marble 
group in the possession of the Yale Art School known as Jephtha 
and his Daughter, and it is believed made the design for the picture 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 95 

on the badges worn in the celebration of the two hundredth anniver- 
sary of the settlement of New Haven. The lives of these men of 
genius were not blessed with the advantages of wealth, for genius in 
New Haven had never any rating, as had a package of West India 
rum. Percival died in a Western State, Hazlegreen, Mich., May 2, 
1S56, and he expressed the wish that his remains might never be 
brought to Connecticut. But while we have on East Rock Park 
a noble monument to New Haven's patriot warriors, ought we not 
to hope that some day there shall be monuments to Hillhouse, 
Percival, Augur, Webster, Bacon, Goodyear, Whitney, Cheever, 
Sherman, Sheffield, English, Trowbridge and other citizens whose 
work has helped to make New Haven one of the most beautiful and 
best governed of American cities .'' 

At a meeting held in the State House April, 1822, the following 
was read : 

" Whereas, it has been represented to this meeting that an application will be 
made to the next General Assembly, for the establishment of a canal from the 
tide waters in New Haven to the north line of this state, at Southwick, through 
the town of Farmington and also through New Hartford to Berkshire County : — 

" This meeting taking into consideration the subject matter of said application 
and believing that the establishment of the proposed canal will be highly honor- 
able to the state and greatly beneficial to a large proportion of our citizens : 
Therefore, 

" Voted, That this town do consent that said canal may be eJitablished and hereby 
wciive all advantage of not being cited to appear before said General Assembly." 

The boys of New Haven afterward had a great deal more fun out 
of the canal than the subscribers who put money into its construc- 
tion. They skated on it in winter, run benders toward spring and 
bathed in it in summer, and caught lamprey eels and fresh water 
clams and bull-heads and shiners. Certain religious societies used 
it for the baptism of converts, and on Sunday afternoon there could 
sometimes be seen on the bank of the canal just above where the 
water ran under the Grove street bridge, large assemblies of devout 
persons taking part in the exercises attendant upon baptisms. Tlie 



96 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

canal water was never very nice, but it answered the purpose. 
Timothy Potter showed more daring in running benders when the 
ice was dangerous, than any other Lancasterian school boy. Very 
pleasant in the summer nights sounded the music of the boatman's 
horn as it was heard on the lon-g level above the Hillhouse avenue 
bridge, and one musical fellow summoned the lock-keeper by a 
melodious tune played on a brass instrument with keys. Sometimes 
there would pass through the canal, a boat on which the canal-men 
were singing. The old basin whose eastern side was bounded by 
Whitney avenue, has given place to dwellings and workshops. 
Exact boundaries along the line of the canal were never very par- 
ticularly defined, and it is said that should the Northampton Rail- 
road Company need at some future day, to widen its road-bed there 
is likely to be considerable debatable ground. 

The story of the State House steps would, if all told, make 
a much larger volume than this. They were frequently chosen by 
the Yale students as the starting-point for one of their funeral 
processions by torchlight on the annual recurrence of the day for 
the burial of Euclid. Having finished their studies in this line of 
mathematical instruction, the circumstance was celebrated with pecul- 
iar rites and with much enthusiasm. Disguised bv various stranfre 
costumes and weaving masks, the young men started from the north 
steps of the building and proceeding up Prospect street, stopped at 
a place beforehand selected, and here, with mock solemnities which 
many persons would pronounce sacrilegious, the funeral oration 
would be preached and the funeral songs be sung. The books, 
previously placed in a coffin, were lowered into the grave, and with 
doleful music on conch shells and other instruments, the dirge was 
performed. So outrageous was the conduct of some of the 
students on these occasions, the faculty prohibited the orgies, but 
the professors and tutors were not generally able to identify any of 
the young men. Sometimes, instead of burying the books, they 
were burned, the students dancing around the fire. All the people 
living on College street or any of the highways leading to the place 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 



97 



where the celebration was held, were awakened from sleep, to see 
the motley and grotesque parade. There were other times when the 
students had pow-wows, when wdth discordant noise of every imagi- 
nable kind, the quiet of the Green was disturbed. So too, the 
State House steps were a rallying point w'here freshmen were 
initiated into college secret societies. When the initiations were 
commenced in a room in a building on Chapel or some other street, 
the young man undergoing the process of initiation, after being 
blindfolded was led to the State House steps and made to walk up 
and down them and around the pillars, and thence by a circuitous 
route to different parts of the city, before being taken back to the 
starting-place. Now in times past, there have been stories of 
various ghosts and apparitions seen in New Haven, between 1829 
and 1889. There was the ghost of the old Tomlinson's covered 
bridge over Mill river, which had no more head than St. Denis, who 
jumped across the English Channel carrying that useful part of 
himself under his arm, and the ghost, so the children learned the 
tale, tumbled heels over head, so to speak, in front of wayfarers 
going over the bridge and disappeared into the water. There was 
the Orange street ghost of 1842, who frightened young girls out 
later than ten o'clock in the evening, and who was reported as 
having once seized the ankle of a nurse girl, on her way to her place 
of service after an evening spent with a few young friends. There 
have also been well authenticated statements concerning haunted 
houses, which out of favor to present dealers in real estate, are not 
herein repeated. And in early times there were not a few honest and 
pious people who believed that there was witchcraft in New Haven, 
although nobody was executed for being a witch. A professor of 
Yale has by his writings given us to understand that there were 
witches. Prof. James L. Kingsley in his oration on the two hun- 
dredth anniversary of the settlement of this town, said : " The Court 
on all occasions of this kind, acted as if they had approached the 
conclusion, long after commended by Blackstone, ' that in general 
there has been such a thing as witchcraft, though one cannot give 
7 



ay^ard eHand Grenade 







FIRE EXTINGUISHERS 

Should be In Every House, Factory, Ac. 

JOHN G. CHAPMAN, Agent, - - 102 Orange St., New Haven, Conn. 




Also, Cfilfitiratel Batcoclf Fire Eitiiilier. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 99 

credit to any one particular instance of it.' " Mrs. Goodman, who 
lived in the house of Deputy-Governor Goodyear, which stood on or 
near th*e ground covered at this time by the New Haven House, 
corner of Chapel and College streets, was obliged to appeal to the 
courts for protection from the tongues of her neighbors, who had 
been saying she was a witch. Hon. Lynde Harrison, in a paper 
furnished for the history of New Haven, edited by the late Rev. 
E. E. Atwater, says that the first settlers believed in witchcraft. 
Therefore a circumstance connected with the bell of the College 
chapel w^as somewhat calculated to revive the belief in witches which 
had aforetime been common to the inhabitants. The bell w^as often 
heard to toll on dark, stormy nights, whenever there was a high 
wind such as blew when Marcellus and Bernardo saw the ghost 
of Hamlet's, father. It always rang "in the dead waste and middle 
of the night," when even the vigilant and zealous tutors who roomed 
in the collesfe buildino-s were slumbering:. One — one — one — tolled 
the bell on the nights favorable for the performance, and certain 
officers of the college were worried. They determined to discover if 
possible the cause or motive power of these midnight ringings. It 
was suspected that mischievous freshmen were amusing themselves. 
Investigation revealed the fact that the bell-rope hung perfectly 
still at the very time when the bell was tolling. There was a 
mystery needing solution. Lantern in hand, an officer of the col- 
lege, followed by others, summoned for the purpose, ascended to 
the bell. They saw^ its tongue swinging from side to side, as if for 
another stroke, but were unable to discern the cause. The mystery 
was increased. At intervals on stormy nights, repeated visits to 
the bell were made, but without a disclosure of the strange tolling, 
tolling, which had become a vexation with a taint of awfulness in it. 
Some persons thought that the bell was troubled by witches : others 
spoke of spirits — evil spirits. One night it was made known in 
some manner that the witches or spirits were concealed behind the 
southwest column of the State House, in a shadow unillumined 
by electric or gas-lights. That they were evil spirits was proved by 



lOO THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

the fact that while the college officers were guarding the chapel 
door, they climbed to the belfry by an unknown route and attached 
a small string to the tongue of the bell, which was then joined to a 
larger cord, which led across College street to the place of the 
spirits behind the column of the State House portico. When the 
spirits saw the ascent of the lantern to the belfry, they gave a 
powerful pull on the cord which caused the bell to sound " one " 
and it also broke the little string, so that when the man with the 
lantern reached the bell, nothing could be seen except its silent 
swinging. Gone are the spirits or witches ! Fallen is the big 
column behind which they were hidden ! But it is believed that 
the witches are at this time filling honorable positions as ministers 
of the gospel or judges of courts in different parts of the country, 
the bones of some of them perhaps, resting quietly at Fair Oaks, or 
Gettysburg. A Yale man of the class of '39, tells of an affair which 
in the fall of 1835 made great excitement for the whole city. Tutor 
John H. Colton, who afterward was pastor of the Second Congrega- 
tional church in New Haven, was rather disliked by the students on 
account of his fidelity to discipline. They determined to give him a 
grand salute. At that time the city's cannon was kept in a small 
shed, used only for that purpose, which stood back of the old 
medical college on Prospect street. Late one Saturday night, a 
sufficient number of the members of the class proceeded to the shed, 
which they found no difficulty in entering. The gun was quietly 
drawn down to College street and placed in front of the north 
college building, in which Tutor Colton slept. It was then heavily 
loaded, a slow match attached to the priming was fired, and the 
students immediately dispersed to their respective rooms. The gun 
was pointed at the State House. Presently the salute was heard— 
not only by Tutor Colton, but by all mankind within a radius of five 
or more miles. The whole town was aroused. Nearlv everv light 

J Jo 

of glass in all the windows of the west side of the State House was 
broken. In the basement of the building and on the west side, 
roomed Judge of Probate Robinson S. Hinman. His window was 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. lOI 

blown into the room and shattered, and he must have thought there 
was an earthquake. The gun stood in the street all Sunday and 
after the church services, people from all parts of New Haven went 
to see it and the damages it had done. The city authorities caused 
an advertisement to be published by placarding and printing in the 
newspapers, offering a reward of one hundred dollars for information 
leading to the apprehension of the rascals who had committed the 
outrage. The college faculty made efforts in the same direction, and 
although there are now living not less than twenty persons who 
know who did the thing, not a lisp of information can be got out of 
one of them. The gunpowder for the salute was bought at the 
store of Philip Saunders, on the northeast corner of Chapel and 
Orange streets. 

The two windows in the southern end of the State House were 
not there until 1868, when Hon. Henry G. Lewis, a representative of 
this town, had a resolution passed by the body of which he was a 
member, for the improvement. Before the windows wjere put in, 
the Hall of Representatives was badly ventilated and lighted. The 
flat ceiling of the Representatives' hall was made some time after 
the State House was finished. Originally the ceiling was arched, 
but the acoustic accommodation was poor and architect Henry 
Austin was employed to plan the second ceiling, which was hung 
under the first one. Even with this and some other improvements, 
it was always difBcult for every member of the House, to hear 
distinctly what was being said either by the " speaker" or members 
debating. 

From a full report made to the Legislature, May 18, 183 1, by 
William Mosely, Charles H. Pond, and John Q. Wilson, the building 
committee, we find that they paid $2,935.67 for placing the marble 
about the State House and doing other work ; $4,000 toward the 
marble from Sing Sing; $509.50 toward the freight charges for the 
marble and $272.30 for cartage from the wharf. To Mr. Town was 
paid $24,000 in full of five installments and a further sum of 
$1,979.55 toward alterations ordered by the General Assembly, in 



i02 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

May, 1829. ■ P^or seats in Representatives' hall $2,176.74, and this 
also covered the payment for seats in the Senate chamber and for 
furniture and grading about the building. There then remained in 
the state treasury $4,432 ; unexpended from the appropriation and 
in the treasury of the city and county of New Haven $868, a 
balance from what was raised by taxation, for their part of the cost. 
The state made three appropriations of money, amounting to 
$31,500 ; the city and county $10,000. 

The tax laid for building a new county court-house, made neces- 
sary on account of want of accommodations in the " New City Hall " 
on Church street, amounted to $168,100, the cost of the site being 
about $48,000. The building stands next north of the present City 
Hall. The entire cost of the building was about $120,000, and the 
furniture, curbing and paving, together with a few extras, brought 
the amount up to $134,000. The Court of Common Pleas held its 
first session in the new building, January 20, 1873, and the Superior 
Court, January 27, 1873. The front measures sixty-six feet, includ- 
ing that part which unites it with the City Hall, and the depth is 
about one hundred and twenty feet. Since the location of the law 
school in the Court-house more than $17,000 have been given for 
the librar)^, $10,000 being the gift of ex-Gov. James E. English. 

A State House was built at Hartford in 17 19, and it was probably 
occupied in May, 1720. The front of it stood on what is now Main 
street. The next Hartford State House was completed in 1796. A 
lottery was authorized, to raise money to pay for it, but the scheme 
was not much of a success. In July, 187 1, the Legislature directed a 
commission to procure plans and build a State House at Hartford, 
at a cost not exceeding $1,000,000, half to be paid by the State and 
half by the city of Hartford. The foundations were laid, but in 
1873, the Legislature stopped the work and the architect, Mr. Up- 
john, made new plans for the building, occupied for the first time 
March 26, 1878. The site was furnished by the city of Hartford, 
and cost $600,000. Buildings were removed from the plot of ground 
on which it stands. Gen. William P. Trowbridge was one of the 



THE HIS7VRY OF THE STATE HOaSE. 103 

Commissioners, managing the business. Tn 1873 the Legislature 
voted to make Hartford the sole capital, and the vote was ratified 
by the people, October, the same year, the majority being 5,933. 
The building is an example of modern, secular, gothic architecture, 
and on its summit is the statue of a woman, said to be the "Genius 
of Connecticut." Until the creation of that statue, the State may be 
said to have had no reliable or visible genius. 

It would be unprofitable at this time, to relate the particulars of 
the struggle between the cities of Hartford and New Haven for the 
honor of being the sole capital. Ever true to her traditionary con- 
servatism in all matters pertaining to the public welfare, New 
Haven, after some economical efforts to secure the prize, gave up 
the contest. The State and county of New Haven kindly relin- 
quished all interest in the State House here. In his semi-centennial 
oration, 1888, Henry T. Blake, referring to the new Hartford State 
House said: "Greatly to be admired is that spirited figure perched 
on its pinnacle, a brazen daughter of Herodias, idealized as the 
genius of Hartford, gracefully poised on agile foot, bearing in one 
hand her own wreath of sovereignty, and triumphantly waving in the 
other the crown or scalp that has just been plucked from her 
decapitated rival." Now whether the genius is one of the emblem- 
atic belongings of Hartford or of the State of Connecticut, may 
possibly be determined from consideration of an episode connected 
with Hartford's local transportation system. It is related that a 
Hartford lady was riding in a horse car with a lady friend from out 
of town. The latter caught sight of the figure on the top of the 
State House and asked her chaperon what it represented. "The 
genius of Connecticut," was the answer. "Genius of Connecticut! " 
said the lady from out of town. " I did not know that the State 
had one. What is this Genius or who was she — what did she do ? " 
The Hartford lady said she could not tell exactl}-, but it had some- 
thing to do with politics. "Mr. Edward S. Cleveland, who sits on 
the other side of the car, knows all about such things," said the 
lady, "and I will ask him.^' Addressing herself to Mr. Cleveland, 



104 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

the lady said : " Pray, Mr. Cleveland, who is the Genius of Connec- 
ticut ? " The gentleman addressed, pondered a brief time and 
gracefully lifting his well brushed silk lile from his head, politely 
said : " Really, madam [a pause], modesty forbids " — [anoiher pause] 
the conclusion of his answer, on account of the noise of the street, 
not being quite heard. Had his modesiy been less pronounfed, he 
might have named himself. 

Charles A. Nettleton, a member now, of the Veteran Firemens' 
Association, was chief engineer of the New Haven Fire Department, 
when, July 22, 1853, the annual parade and inspection of the 
department was made the occasion of a holiday remembered as be- 
ing one of the most notable in the city's annals. Representative 
fire companies were present from Hartford, Bridgeport, Guilford, 
VVaterbury, New Britain, East Haven, Meriden, j\lidd!etown, Mil- 
ford, Collinsville, Norwich and New London, this state; and from 
Williamsburg, N. Y., Springfield and Chicopee, Mass., Providence, 
R. I., and New York City. The stalwart, handsomely uniformed 
men — the elegantly decorated engines, hose carriages, and hook 
and ladder trucks — the richly colored signal lanterns and brass 
and silver-plated speaking trumpets contributed to make the 
show one of interest and splendor. Thousands of people of this 
and other cities crowded to the Green. Chief Nettleton, who was 
also chief-marshal of the day, was assisted by Thomas C. Hollis, 
Tiiomas W. Ensign, Charles W. Allen (afterward chief), Amos 
Thomas, George W. Jones, John Woodruff, 2d, and Philip Pond, 
The line of march was in six divisions, and beside martial music 
there were about twenty brass bands, among which was the famous 
Dodsworth's, of New York. The line was formed for the parade on 
the Green, the right resting on Temple street, and the route through 
the streets was very long. After a grand review by the city author- 
ities there was a fine dinner, under tents, on the west section of 
the Green, at which Mayor Aaron N. Skinner, and other citizens, 
made speeches. Then followed a trial of the merit of the respective 
machines, the prizes being a salver and two silver goblets presented 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 105 

by the New Haven department. The enghies took water from each 
other and played to see which could throw a stream highest, and 
there was a fine display of muscle and endurance by the firemen. 
Tremendous efforts were made for victory and there were some 
warm disputes about technical matters. Such a picture as the fire- 
men and their engines made on the Green that day, can never be 
repeated. When the veteran firemen meet, they make mention of 
this as a great event in the history of the New Haven Fire Depart- 
ment. 

But those who were on the Green at any time, beginning May 13, 
and ending the 15th, 1873, saw much which they will never forget. 
Preparations for the entertainment of President Grant, and the armies 
of the Potomac and the Cumberland were commenced, when the 
Common Council appointed committees of which Henry G. Lewis 
was chairman. In the City Year Book for 1873, will be found a full 
account of the grand doings, as written by Frank M. Lovejoy, at 
present Deputy United States Marshal. The city was overflowing 
with strangers from all parts of the Union. There were public and 
private receptions and various exercises occupying all of the time 
for three days. Mr. Lovejoy in his account of the proceedings 
May 15, wrote : "At one o'clock, the Second Regiment, C. N. G., 
marched on to the'Green and took its position on the right of the 
line which was to form the escort of the city's civic and military 
guests, in a parade through the principal streets. Gov. Charles R. 
Ingersoll in a barouche, accompanied by his staff, was escorted by 
the Governor's Horse Guards and Governor's Foot Guards, from 
the State House to a position in the line in rear of the Light 
Artillery. The governor and his Guards were preceded by the 
American Band of Providence, and on the Green, General Craufurd 
and staff took a position in the line behind the governor's party. 
Admiral Foote Post No. 17, G. A. R., headed by Gilmore's band, 
formed to left of the line, which rested on Chapel street. A few 
minutes before two o'clock the escort, led by two companies of 
police, took up the line of march to the residence of Hon. Henry 



WE ARE NOW PREPARED 
TO SHOW THE 

Largest Assortment 



oi^ 



GlothihC 

That can be found in the 

eiTY. 

LEIGH & PRINDLE 

813 & 815 CHAPEL . ST. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. lO/ 

.Farnam, on Hillhouse avenue, where President Grant and other dis- 
tinguished guests were to join the procession. Passing out of the 
south gate of the Green, the procession moved down Chapel, 
through Orange and Trumbull streets, Whitney avenue, Sachem 
street, to Hillhouse avenue, where it halted and with appropriate 
military ceremonies received the guests seated in open carriages. 
In the first carriage were President U. S. Grant and Mayor 
Lewis; in the second, Vice-President Wilson and Governor Inger- 
soll ; in the third, Gen. William T. Sherman and a member 
of his staff, and Governor Perham, of Maine ; in the fourth, 
Lieut. -Gen. Philip Sheridan and ex-Gov. Joseph R. Hawley, while 
in other carriages were Generals Burnside, Hancock, McDowell, 
Gibbon and Devens ; ex-Governors Buckingham and Jewell, Con- 
gressman Kellogg and other distinguished gentlemer. The line of 
march was again taken up and the procession proceeded down Hill- 
house avenue, through Grove, College, Elm, York, Chapel, Wooster 
place, Greene, Olive, Chapel, State, Elm, Church and Chapel 
streets, to the Green, where the parade ended. The sidewalks all 
along the route were densely crowded by an enthusiastic throng, 
eager to see the honored guests and their fine looking escort ; the 
windows of the houses all along the line of march were filled, and 
cheering and handkerchief waving was indulged in bv all. As the 
procession entered upon the Green, the artillery, w^hich had left the 
line previously, fired a salute. The escort was then dismissed and 
the review of the Second Regiment by General Craufurd, in pres- 
ence of the guests, took place." 

Thursday evening, there was a grand ball at Music Hall, Capt. 
A. C. Hendrick and Miss Addie Taft, of New Haven, leading the 
grand march. The appearance of the Green at night, was beautiful. 
New Haven city appropriated $3,000 toward the expenses and a 
very large amount was raised by private subscriptions. 

Life and death have made a record on the Green. Ne-pau-puck, 
a chief of the Pequot Indians, was killed by law, for several mur- 
ders, in 1639, ^"•'-'^ head being cut off and set on a pole in the public 



I08 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

market-place, and within the past few years, Detective James P. 
Brewer, of tiie New Haven police force, found a woman at the foot 
of the liberty pole, with a newly born infant, and in a few months it 
died. 

There were many causes which led to the adoption of the 
constitutional amendment, providing for but one capital. The 
version of one politician hardly gives the whole matter. He said : 
" The city spent about $30,000 on the lobby and then passed an 
ordinance not to allow any more money to go that way. Another 
cause was the attack made upon Joseph R. Hawley when he was a 
candidate for United States Senator, which induced sixteen Re- 
publican members of the Legislature, mainly from Fairfield County, 
to join with the Democrats, and they voted for O. S. Ferry, of 
Norwalk, for Senator. Hawlev had received the caucus nomination 
of his party. After Ferry was elected, the Hartford and some New 
London friends of Hawley, indignantly avow^ed it to be their de- 
termination to defeat any project of importance which thereafter 
might be in the interest of New Haven. And they kept their 
word." 

As this is a suitable place, we give a list of United States Senators 
from the time of building the State House : 

Samuel A. Foot, ...... 1827-1833 

Gideon Tomlinson, ..... 1831-1837 

Nathan Smith, ...... 1833-1835 

John M. Niles, .... i835-i839-'43-'49 

Perry Smith, ...... 1837-1843 

Thaddeus Betts, ..... 1839-1840 

Jabez W. Huntington. ..... 1840-1849 

Roger S. Baldwin, ..... 1847-185 1 

Truman Smith, ...... 1 849-1 854 

Isaac Toucey, ..... 1852-1857 

Francis Gillett, ...... 1854-1855 

Lafayette S. Foster, . , , . . 1855-1867 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. IO9 

James Dixon, ...... 1857-1869 

Orris S. Ferry, ..... 1867-1875 

William A. Buckingham, ..... 1869-1875 

James E. English, ..... 1875-1876 

William W. Eaton, ..... 1875-188 1 

William H. Barnum. ..... 1876-1879 

Orville H. Piatt, ..... 1879 

Joseph R. Hawley, ...... 188 1 

The year 1872 was one in which one event after another had 
some relationship to the one capital question. January 24, the 
Republican Convention, at Hartford, nominated Marshall Jewell 
for Governor, and February 7, the Democratic Convention, at New 
Haven, nominated Richard D. Hubbard, of Hartford. The Legis- 
lature met May 2, and Hawley was nominated for Senator, by the 
Republicans, May 10. O. S. Ferry was elected, however, receiving 
the entire Democratic and some of the Republican vote as before 
related. August 26, Ralph Isaacs Ingersoll, of New Haven, died. 
October 4, Morris Tyler was nominated for Mayor of the city. 
December 7, was established a weather signal station, which had 
nothing particular to do with politics. The opposition to Hawley 
for Senator, grew out of something which is not clearly known. 
The vote May 15, 1872, was in the State Senate, for Haw^ley, 14; 
for Ferry, 7. In the House, Ferry, 125; Hawley, 11 ; not voting 5, 
making Ferry's majority 14. A gentleman active in Republican 
politics, speaking of the, re-election of Hon. Orris S. Ferry, said : 
" Later, the friends of Hon. Henry B. Harrison wanted him for 
Governor in 1873. The convention was held at Hartford. Two or 
three weeks before the convention it was well known that Mr. 
Harrison's friends thought he should have the party nomination, 
but Hartford and New London Republicans joined and nominated 
Henry P. Haven, of New London. Then the New Haven Repub- 
lican newspapers came out editorially and otherwise, hinting to the 
Democrats that if they would nominate Charles R. Ingersoll, of 



I lo THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. ■ 

New Haven, he could be elected. Of course they nominated him 
and he was elected in 1873." 

The last session of the Legislature held in the New Haven State 
House was in 1874. It was late in 1872 that the war about one 
capital fairl}- broke out. In that year Edwin A. Tucker, a journal- 
ist, reported that some members of the Legislature had been bribed 
with gifts of carriages, and this disclosure is said to have caused con- 
siderable hustling around among the vehicles in the barns of some 
of the representatives. Mr. Tucker was called to an account, and 
satisfied some of the enquirers that he had grounds for his allega- 
tion. He was afterward editor of the Hartford Post, and his remains 
are buried in Fair Haven. It was the session of 1873 that the 
necessary two-thirds vote of the General Assembly was obtained, to- 
submit the one capital amendment to the Constitution to the people. 
The bill had been passed at the New Haven session in 1870, by a 
majority vote only. The people settled the matter in October, 1873, 
the number of votes cast for the amendment being 36,853 and 
against it 30.685. Referring to New Haven's mortification, Mayor 
Henry G. Lewis, in his message to the Common Council, December 
31, 1873, took occasion to say: 

"New Haven was one of the orioinal colonies and has been from 
its first union with the Colony of Connecticut, a semi-capital of the 
State and in my judgment should have remained so for the welfare 
of our old Commonwealth. We have lost it, however, simply from 
want of unity on the part of our city government and our fellow cit- 
izens, for which I do not hold myself respoiisible, and I desire to 
place myself on record as not approving the action taken by your 
honorable body." (Referring to the refusal of the Common Council 
to appropriate more money.) 

The version of the Mayor is as well entitled to credence as any 
of the manv from analvsts of divergent views. Some li^ht is 
thrown upon the subject, by the following, from the New Haven 
Palladium , 1873. 

" A Hartford correspondent of the New York Tribu}u\ who either 



THE HISTORY OF THE ST A TE HOUSE. \ \ \ 

is a liberal Republican or more likely pretends to be one, to suit the 
paper with which he corresponds, is indeed pleased to express the 
opinion that a New Haven nomination will excite vigorous opposi- 
tion in many quarters of the State. As, however, he brings in the 
name of Senator Ferry and says that that gentleman was represented 
last summer by those who favored his election, to be a liberal Repub- 
lican, his object is apparent. His statement has not the slightest 
foundation. . . . The Republicans of Connecticut were n£Lyer more 
harmonious and have no intention whatever of quarrelling over can- 
didates or reviving past issues. Nor vvill the capital question enter 
into the selection of a candidate, as the Iribune correspondent 
asserts that it will." 

The same paper, January 13, 1873, said editorially : 
" There are no reasons existing now which did not exist then [a 
year before] why Mr. Harrison should not be an acceptable candi- 
date to the Republicans of this State. The capital question, the 
Hartford Coura7it now has found ' franklv,' was as much unsettled 
then as it is now. And just here we may as well remark that it is 
somewhat ungracious to see the capital question urged by a Hartford 
journal as a reason why the candidate should not be selected from 
New Haven. No one in New Haven ever ventured to do Governor 
Jewell, of Hartford, the gross injustice and discourtesy of supposing 
that he would not be strictly neutral on that subject. No one in 
New Haven ever did Mr. Richard D. Hubbard, of Hartford, the 
injustice of supposing he would not have been equally impartial iiad 
he been elected. . . . The suggestion that any governor could do 
so [show partiality] comes for the first time from Hartford and does 
not come till Hartford, having had the candidates for seven years 
and the governorship for four 3^ears, gracefully withdraws in favor of 
S077ie other section of New Haven. As the Courant has introduced the 
subject, it will perhaps see the propriety of ascertaining — if it has 
not already done so — the views of the Hon. Henry P. Haven on the 
capital question." 

It was contended by the New Haven Republican papers that the 



I 12 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

capital question was never allowed to become a political one. At 
the May session of the Legislature, 1873, Mr. Landers objected to a 
postponement of the question and said he could think of no reason 
unless to give a lobby time to operate for New Haven. He further 
said he had his notion about the lobby, by reading New Haven 
papers and reports of proceedings of the New Haven Common 
Council. When the vote was given by the people, New Haven cast 
about seven thousand against the amendment, and there were 
between twenty and thirty votes in favor. Both before and after 
the voting the Hartford Courant said that it was evident from 
reports from all over the State, that there had been a hberal use of 
money to defeat the amendment. On the other hand it was said 
that Hartford spent much more money on the lobby than New 
Haven. The truth appears to be that the voters in country towns, 
not particularly affiliated with either of the semi-capitals, made up 
their minds that one capital was enough, and that Hartford was 
nearer the centre of the State than New Haven and therefore a 
more convenient place for the seat of government. The vote in New 
Haven County was 17,784 against the amendment and 1,564 in favor 
of it. The reader will doubtless see that since there has been but 
one capital, there has been more need than before for a Constitu- 
tional Convention to kill what has often been denominated the 
" rotten borough " system, and which allows New Haven no equitable 
share in making laws or doing anything pertaining to the government 
of the State. The theory that there should be no taxation without 
representation led to the scattering of tea on the waters of Boston's 
harbor and finally to the war which led to American independence. 

The old County Court was abolished in 1854, and cases which 
until then had been tried in that court, went to the Superior Court. 
The docket was so large that the Court of Common Pleas was 
created in 1869, with Samuel L. Bronson, a son of Dr. Henry Bron- 
son, for Judge. He was succeeded by Judge Henry E. Pardee, and 
in the fall of 1872, Judge Pardee refused to hold court in the State 
House on the ground that the dampness and general unhealthi- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 



113 



ness of the building jeopardized his life. He therefore moved his 
court into the new City Hall on Church street and occupied the Bar 
library room, and also, at times, the Common Council Chamber, until 
1873, when he moved his court into the County Building. 

Daring the mayoralty of Henry Peck, a proposition was made by 
Aaron Kilbourn, whose father was proprietor of an iron foundry on 
what is now Audubon street, to bore an artesian well on the lower 
part of the Green. He agreed to make the well for $800, and said 
there should be from it a copious and never-failing supply of water. 
His belief was that the elevations of East and West rocks were 
sufficient to insure the success of such an undertaking. On con- 
sidering his proposal by some of the city authorities, he was asked 
if he would give a bond to execute the work, should a contract be 
made. Mr. Kilbourn was either unable or unwilling to give such a 
bond, and nothing more was heard about the artesian well. 

The spaces under the State House steps were at one time made a 
pound and stray cattle were for a short time impounded there, but 
the place was not found to be convenient, as vagrant animals were 
not often taken up so near the centre of the city. For some years 
the pound was kept on Prospect street, in the rear of the medical 
college, and was kept by a man named Cook. The basement of the 
State House was at a later time made by a city ordinance, the depos- 
itory for a set of baskets owned by the city and holding not less than 
two bushels, which it was made obligatory for all dealers in charcoal 
to use, in measuring out that commodity for selling to the citizens. 
In those davs nearlv all families bought charcoal for kindlins: the 
family fire, and charcoal sellers were generally suspected of not giv- 
ing good measure. Whenever a dealer in coal came into the citv 
with a load to sell, he was required to go to the State House, where 
the proper official loaned him a city measuring basket for the dav, 
and the basket was returned to the State House at night, or sooner. 
Owing to the fact that it appeared to be nobody's particular business 
to look after the baskets, they were soon permanently borrowed and 
none have to this time been returned to the city. The introduction of 



THE NOBLE ELM 

On the corner of Chapel and Church streets will be 
one hundred years old April i6th, 1890. Picture 
it one hundred years ago, without branches, and 
behold it now, with massive, wide-spreading limbs, 
worthy of demonstrative remembrance on its one 
hundredth anniversary. 

Boston, once a small hamlet, is now known 
as the ''Hub." Once it had no branches, while 
now they extend far and wide, benefitting man- 
kind. The Boston Branch Shoe Store is a fit 
representative of Boston's far-reaching influence. 
There can be found Shoes of every make and 
quality at prices which fortid successful competi- 
tion. 

Remember and duly honor the noble elm, and 
do not forget The Boston Branch Shoe Store, 
845 Chapel street. 

D. M. CORTHELL, Manager. 



THE HIS TOR V OF THE STA TE HOUSE. 1 1 5 

bundles of kindling wood did much to dissipate the prejudice which 
iiad existed against the charcoal sellers. While the State House was 
being pulled down, a citizen found in the basement a teaspoon 
marked with the initial letters of the name of Charles Fred. Lockwood 
who used to keep dining-rooms in the Leffingwell Building, on the 
northeast corner of Church and Court streets. This trilling object, 
with talismanic power, recalls to the mind, recollections of the numer- 
ous festivals and fairs which have been held in the building in differ- 
ent years. There was a ladies' fair held there, about fifty years ago, 
for. the purpose of raising money toward the expense of constructing 
the stone wall which is built on three sides of Grove Street Cemeter}-, 
and $850 were realized. But festivities of one sort and another 
were in fashion with some of the legislative bodies. Toward the 
close of the session in the year when Joseph R. Hawley was go\'- 
ernor, boxes of lemons and great packages of sugar were converted 
into cooling drink, which was kept in an open barrel in a room near 
the Senate Chamber and the drink was made inviting by ice and 
spirits. General Pratt, of Rocky Hill, led a crusade against the 
existing enterprise, by which legislative tipple was charged in the 
debenture bills against the State as "stationery," and although his 
voice was loudly raised against what he considered a bit of dis- 
honesty, his protests were ridiculed. In that year (1866) the sta- 
tionery bills amounted to about $10,000, a sum unprecedentedly 
large. A number of officials of that session robbed the State in a 
wholesale manner. One man made it almost a daily practice, to 
walk down into the centre of the city with reams of legal paper and 
boxes of envelopes, which he sold at any price he could get, repeat- 
ing the operation a number of times in one day. So annoyed was 
Comptroller Battel! at the wantonness and extravagance of every- 
body connected with the department of supplies, that he resigned 
his office before the close of the session, Hon. Leman Cutler, of 
Waterbury, being chosen to succeed him. The rising of the Legisla- 
ture on the alternate years when the government was carried on 
in New Haven, was the occasion of much interest to professional 



I 16 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

plunderers. On the last day of the session, when the usual compT.- 
nientary speeches were being made and testimonials were being pre- 
sented to the Speakers of the Senate and House, the subordinate 
officials in the building were busy packing up and conveying away 
everything in the way of portable property, not previously stolen. 
Waste baskets, inkstands, spittoons, rugs, mats, even desks, were 
seized upon and rushed out of the building. The pitchers, tumblers, 
salvers, copies of the statutes of the State and other publications — in 
short everything which could be converted into money — were pirated 
and in a few hours but very little was left, except the unmovdble 
desks and furniture, unconsumed coal \\\ the cellar and the books and 
papers to be transported to the Hartford State House. Everything 
was stolen as perquisites, by various persons whose familiarity with 
legislative proceedings rendered them expert in the matter. In the 
general scramble for this kind of property there was a great deal of 
fun and excitement and sometimes collisions between the more 
active of the robbers. 

Isaac Brown of Fair Haven furnished the stone used irt building 
the State House and Isaac Foot contracted for carting it, he 
employing in the work teams of oxen with a horse for leader. 
Daniel H. Brown, then a lad of seventeen years, assisted in the 
labor. Among the objects found at the destruction of the building 
were a mallet, discovered by Contractor Montgomery's men, under 
the roof, near the eaves, and marked with the figures " 18 13," and a 
bottle of ancient form, picked up in the basement, which contained 
lemon peel and rum, with some sort of bitters of a kind now very 
likely obsolete. In the cellar, there w'as found a structure resem- 
bling a Scottish cairn, about eight feet square, level and smooth on 
its top. For some time the quid nuncs who were interested in the 
destruction of the building, fancied that the bones of former occu- 
pants of the graves beneath the building were placed there, but 
it was finally found that this apparently rude monumental pile 
was simply an old foundation for a big furnace used in heating the 
house. The interest in the discoverv was not unlike that felt bv 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. I 1 7 

Mr. Pickwick, who purchased the forever famous stone record 
of Bill Stumps. All around the city are to be seen single blocks of 
marble, once part of the steps or basement veneering and which 
were bought from Contractor Montgomery at a price of from one to 
six dollars each, for service as stepping-stones, on the edge of side- 
walks in front of dwelling houses. INIany of these, not having been 
trimmed, make an unsightly appearance. In front of the premises 
of A. W. Johnson, No. 66 Lafayette Street, there is a stepping stone 
which was a part of the second of New Haven's State Houses. Mr. 
Montgomery has one of the blocks of marble from the building last 
destroyed, placed in front of his house. It has been recut and 
polished, and on it can be seen on one side, the inscription in hand- 
somely carved letters : 

YE OLD STATE HOUSE STEP. 

ERECTED 182S, 

DESTROYED 1889. 



On another side : 



W. J. MONTGOMERY, 
CONTRACTOR. 



The gentleman may in future years be remembered by a yet 
unknown poet of Connecticut, after the manner in which a more 
ancient poet writes of the burning of the Ephesian dome and of " the 
pious fool who built it." 

In a local newspaper is to be found the following advertisement 
relatins: to a matter which caused great discussion in New Haven 
and in many other towns of this state. It is of the date, January 16, 
1824. 

" Whereas, on or about the 7th day instant, January, the body of a respectable 
female recently deceased, was unlawfully removed from its place of interment in 
West Haven and brought to this city for dissection : 

" Now, therefore, by and with the advice and direction of the Court of Common 
Council, I hereby offer a reward of three hundred dollars to any person who will 



Ii8 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

discover the offender or offenders and give such information thereof that they 
may be brought to justice and conviction. 

"George Hoadley, Mayor." 

The circumstances of the case are calculated, even at this distance 
of time, to enlist the s\'mpathies of all persons. A young lad}', Miss 
Bathsheba Smith, aged twenty years, amiable and comely — fair in 
person more than any other young woman of that neighborhood — 
died at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Laban Smith, the 
house being about two miles west of West Haven centre, near the 
Durand place and the old Piatt place. Mr. Smith was a popular 
man, a sea-captain in the days when the proportion of native youth 
following a seafaring life was greater than at this time. He was of 
the kind of mariners such as the late Captains John Hood, Brintnall 
and Denison, all of whom were prominent socially in New Haven and 
more or less identified with the affairs of the town and city. George 
\V. Smith, the mason builder of No. 35 Park Street, is a son of the 
late Laban Smith. From him and from Mrs. Lewis Fitch of Orange 
street, aunt to Harry I. Thompson, the artist, whose portraits of 
some of the governors of Connecticut and other distinguished men, 
can be seen at the Capitol in Hartford, are derived some of the 
incidents of the distressing affair. 

At the funeral of INIiss Smith, which was largely attended, there 
happened to be present a student from the medical college, on 
the corner of Grove and Prospect streets, since occupied by some of 
the departments of the Sheffield Scientific School, of Yale. The 
young lady died from consumption and di"opsy, and her complexion 
and features after life had departed were very beautiful. The body 
was buried in the old cemetery, near the Episcopal Church, West 
Haven. A few nights after the burial, Mrs. Smith, the young lady's 
mother, was visited in her dreams by an Intelligence which will 
perhaps forever be a mystery. She was made certain that the grave 
would be despoiled. For succeeding nights the bereaved mother 
dreamed that the body of her child was being molested in the grave. 
So deep an impression was made upon her mind that she communi- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOCSE. 



119 



caled the dreain^ to her husband, and for nine colisecutive nights he 
watched by the grave, gun in hand, to prevent desecration. On 
a Saturday night the watciiing was abandoned. Sunday morning Mr. 
Smith attended church. He had previously marked the grave and 
on again visiting it saw evidences that there had been a disturbance 
of the ground. Some stall^s of straw which had been laid upon the 
top of the coffin to muffle the dread sound of the falling earth while 
the grave was being filled, were scattered about. Mr. Smith imme- 
diately communicated with his neighbors and he and they decided to 
re-open the grave. A few feet below the surface of the ground was 
found a tortoise-shell comb which had been placed in the hair of the 
deceased. When the coffin was reached, it was seen to have been 
split open and a log of wood had been substituted for the body. 
Among those who were present was Simeon Filch, brother of Mrs. 
Lewis Fitch and cousin of the young woman ; William Kimberly 
and Sidney Painter. It was reported at the time, that the body had 
been taken to New Haven in a chaise, by two young men [some 
reports said there was but one] and was held in an upright position 
by the person driving. The young men of West Haven were in 
a great state of excitement. They left the village'about midnight, in a 
large body and accompanied Mr. Smith to the city, where they arrived 
at the dawn of day. General Dennis Kimberly, a lawyer of New 
Haven, but whose home was in West Haven, was called upon. 
He advised that there should be obtained a warrant to search the 
medical college. This \pas done, but the search led to no discovery 
of the remains. There were found, however, four or five bodies 
concealed under some charcoal. Mr. Smith w^as not satisfied. Nor 
-were hundreds of young men of West Haven, New Haven, Fair 
Haven, and from the outlying districts, who had heard the story 
of the crime and who met on the Green, where they were addressed 
by different persons who urged an attack upon the medical college 
and the razing of the building. There was a furious and tumultuous 
crowd in College street, from the medical college building to Elm 
street, and another crowd on Grove, extending as far as Orange 



120 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

Street. The people appeared to be generally determined that the 
college building must be pulled down. The city's cannon were 
taken possession of and there was shouting and gesticulating by the 
hundreds of angry citizens who were almost beyond control. One 
fellow, more demonstrative than others, was observed by Sheiiff 
Pond, exciting the people to riot. He spoke loudly and vehemently. 
The sheriff acted sagaciously. He tapped the man on the shoulder 
and said : " I want you to help me in keeping order here." The 
man at once changed his program. Said he: "All right, sir, I'm 
your man," and he became forthwith one of the sheriff's best sup- 
porters. The late Dr. Jonathan Knight and Dr. Smith were officers 
at the college. After a speech from Dr. Knight and some parleying, 
it was agreed that Mr. Smith and a committee should further search 
the building. Dr. Knight preceded the committee. They went into 
all the rooms and descended to the sub-cellar. One of the men 
noticed some earth on the flagged floor, and on removing the stones 
the body of the young woman was found. The officers of the col- 
lege had positively denied that it was in the building. When the 
committee reappeared in the street, the excitement amounted to 
insanity. The body was tenderly borne to the Green. A great pro- 
cession was formed, and marched to the house of Mr. Smith. A 
grave w^as made within a few feet of the dwelling and there the bodv 
found rest. Members of the family watched the grave from a win- 
dow of the house for a long time. The inhabitants of a number of 
Connecticut towns were greatly exercised, and in some rural ceme- 
teries graves were re-opened to ascertain whether they had been 
desecrated. The student suspected of the outrage ran away from 
New Haven. The college authorities offered to give a bond that 
nothing of the sort should occur again. Mr. Laban Smith was never 
afterwards the man he had been. His health failed and his life was 
believed to have been shortened by the mental anguish he had 
suffered. The mob, if such it could be called, was mainly composed 
of very respectable people, among whom were some members of 
the Methodist Church. It was "enerally believed that the Faculty of 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 121 

the college had no knowledge of the fact that the body was ever 
taken into the JDuilding, although at first, so great was the tumult 
that their lives were in danger of being lost. During the search of 
the buildings some of the medicines and other property were dam- 
aged. There are now living, a number of elderly persons who 
remember this sad affair. One person was tried in the Superior 
Court for the outrage, convicted and punished. A law passed 
in consequence of this affair, is still upon the statute books. 

At the session of the General Assembly in 1854, Greene Ken- 
(irick, of Waterbury, succeeded Lafayette S. Foster, speaker of 
the House. In the balloting for United States senators, in the 
State Senate, the number of votes cast was 21. Francis Gillette, 
elected to fill an unexpired term, received 11, F. Gillette i, C. 
Chapman 2, John Cotton Smith 5, and there were 2 blanks. For the 
six years' term Lafayette S. Foster had 13, James Dixon 3. Samuel 
Ingham, of Essex, 5. In the House, on the first ballot 216 votes 
were given. Francis Gillette, of Hartford, had 109, Charles Chap- 
man 92, John Cotton Smith 6, Roger S. Baldwin 5, Samuel Ingham 
3, T. B. Butler i, and there were 3 blanks. For the long term, of 
219 votes cast, Mr. Foster had 129, Ingham 88, Gillette 2. The 
election of Foster and Gillette really led to a change in the organi- 
zation of political parties. There was much fretting over the elec- 
tion of Gillette. He was not a whig, but some whigs felt disposed 
to call his election a whig victory. He was not however elected as 
a whig, but as a man opposed to the Nebraska bill. The whig 
caucus decided upon Foster and Gillette, and they had some sup- 
port from the Free Soilers and ultra temperance men. 

Prior to 1826, the mayors of New Haven were elected by the cit- 
izens and held office during the pleasure of the Legislature. Here 
are their names and terms of office : 

Roger Sherman, . . . . , . t 784-1 793. 

Samuel Bishop, ..... 1793-1803. 

Elizur Goodrich, ...... 1803-1822, 




The State House now lies very flat. 
No place for doves, or evening hat. 
The largest B. A. T. on earth yonll see. 
Tf you will only call on nie^. 



£iig'raviiig, that is done by me. 
You'll find tirst class— please call and see 
Illustrations, the finest grrade 
Of auy article that is made. 



I>csis^iiiiit>' done of every kind. 
Nice lielteriiiii', just to vour mind. 
AtCIiapel Sire t, Ei{ii»t T\venty-Kisl»t* 

The largest B. A. T. in any Slat.-. 

B. A. TUCKER. 



THE. HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 



123 



George Hoadley, .... 


1822-1826. 


Simeon Baldwin, .... 


. 1826-1827. 


William Bristol, .... 


1827-1828. 


David Daggett, .... 


1829-1830 


Ralph I. Ingersoll, .... 


1830-1831 


Dennis Kimberly, . . . . 


. 1831-1832 


Ebenezer Seelev, .... 


1832-1833. 


Dennis Kimberly, 


^'^Z?)i ^vould not serve 


Noyes Darling, . . , . 


1833-1834 


Henry C. Flagg, .... 


. 1834-1839 


Samuel J. Hitchcock, 


1839-1842 


Philip S. Galpin, .... 


. 1842-1846 


Henrv Peck, .... 


1846-1852 


Aaron N. Skinner, . . . . 


. 1852-1854 


Chauncey Jerome, .... 


1854-1855 


Alfred Blackman, . . . . 


. 1855-1856 


Philip S. Galpin, .... 


1856-1860 


Harmanus M. Welch, 


. 1860-T863 


Morris Tyler, .... 


1863-1865 


Erastus C. Scranton, 


. 1865-1866 


Lucien W. Sperry, .... 


1866-1869 


William Fitch, .... 


1869-1870 


Henry G. Lewis, .... 


1870-1877 


William R. Shelton, 


• 1877-1879 


Hobart B. Bigelow, .... 


1879-1881 


John B. Robertson, . . . . . 


. 1881-1883 


Henry G. Lewis, .... 


1883-1885 


George T'. Holcomb, 


. 1885-1887 


Samuel A. York, .... 


1887-1889 


Henry F. Peck, .... 


1889, term unexpired 



In the annual report of the United Workers, for 1888, they say: 
*' It is now sixteen years since our foundation and we still occupy 
rooms in the State House." A sewing school was started in the 



J 24 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 



State House, March, 1883, in a room granted by the courtesy of Prof. 
E. Whitney ]]hike, manager of the Museum of Art and Industry, 
occupying a large part of the building by courtesy of the city. The 
oro-anization of United Workers have attempted and have had some 
success in doing a good many benevolent things. They have had 
an employment bureau, and separate conuuittees on Almshouse, 
Relief, Boys' club, Sewing School, Coffee House, and other philan- 
thropic departments of their work. Mrs. Eli Whitney, Miss Harriet 
Russell, Mrs. E. S. Wheeler, Miss F. E. Walker, Mrs. William A. 
Blake, besides other New Haven ladies of means and leisure, have 
been prominent in the organization, the ladies whose names are 
given, having filled the office of president. The destruction of the 
State House will not lessen the eiforts making for the benefit of 
classes of persons coming within the purview of this charitable 
enterprise. 

As late as 1873 there were twenty-two members of the Center 
Church who had been members over fifty years. 

In the spring of 1837, there was organized at the State House, a 
military company, of very young men, called the Cadets. These 
were the olficers : N. S. Hallenbeck, captain ; Theodore Warner, first 
lieutenant; George Beers, second lieutenant; Benjamin Mansfield, 
major ; William N. Cleeton, orderly sergeant ; John B. Hanover, 
second sergeant ; Samuel Cleeton, third sergeant. They used to 
meet in the buildings for drill and for social enjoyment. 

Among the stories connected with the trial of cases in the County 
Court, when it occupied the State House, is one in which Silas Mix 
figured as counsel. He had been assigned to defend a poor man 
charged with crime. Mr. Mix was allow^ed to have a talk with his 
client in the lobby of the court room. 

Lawyer Mix: "Well, my friend, have you any money with which 
to pay your counsel ? " 

Prisoner : " No, sir. I have got* a silver watch which I would 
gladly give, if it would do any good." 

Mr. Mix took the watch. He remarked that the window of the 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE, I 25 

room was open and told his client that he hoped he (die client) 
woidd not jump out of the window and run away. In a few 
minutes Mr. Mix re-entered the court room and told the judge 
that he feared the man had got away, as when he looked out of 
the window he saw him running toward Court street. The officers 
started off after the prisoner, but were unable to come up with him. 
At another time there were divorce proceedings in court and the 
custody of an infant was desired by both its parents. James Hart, 
the father, while the matter was being argued, seized the child and 
ran out of the State House, the sheriff's men running after him. He 
was caught on Hillhouse avenue and he and the baby were returned 
to court. Roger S. Baldwin, counsel for Mr. Hart, was obliged to 
explain to the court that while Mr. Hart was a great student and 
reader ot the books of learned men, yet that he had no practical 
ideas and no just conception of the majesty of the law. The judge, 
in consideration of the fact that while Mr. Hart was deeply versed in 
antiquarian lore, learned in theology and possessed of much knowl- 
edge to be found in books, but at the same time was unacquainted 
with the powers of a court, concluded not to punish him for what he 
had done. The child was given to the mother, whose maiden name 
was Mary Pierpont. Her remains lie in Evergreen cemetery. 

Roger Sherman Baldwin died in this city in 1863. At a Bar 
meeting held in the court-room on Church street the lawyers gath- 
ered to take appropriate action. Ralph I. Ingersoll, in speaking of 
the sfreat man whose life of inte2:ritv and usefulness had closed, said : 
" And clinging to life as I do and as old men will, could 1 look 
backward upon my years, spent as worthily as his, gladly would I be 
nailed in my coffin to-day." Mr. Baldwin's reputation as a lawyer 
became world-wide on account of his successful labors in behalf of 
the negroes captured on the slave ship Amistad, and who had mur- 
dered all but two of the white men on board, hoping to gain their 
freedom, on reaching a northern port of the United States. They 
were tried in 1840, in the District Court of the United States. At 
that time the President and Cabinet, the judges and almost all 



126 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

official persons connected wilh the government were of the opinion 
that all the laws in support of slavery, should be maintained. In the 
case of these unfortunate black people, there were circumstances 
which were calculated to make it an almost impossible thing for any 
lawver to save them from being either convicted of murder or being 
handed over to men w^ho claimed ownership of them, or to the 
Spanish government. Indeed, there w^ere threats that if they were 
not released to the Spaniards, there might be war between Spain and 
the United States. There was a long and bitter fight in the courts, 
Mr. Baldwin finally succeeding in establishing the freedom of the 
Africans. While the legal proceedings were pending and the 
negroes were in confinement at the county jail on Church street, 
some of the friends of freedom, among w^hom were two gentlemen 
named Tappan, and Nathaniel Jocelyn, a New Haven artist, had 
determined that the slaves should not be taken either to Cuba or 
Spain. They secured a small vessel, which for a number of days 
cruised about on the waters of Long Island Sound, often approach- 
ing the mouth of New Haven harbor, and the intention was, should 
the decision of the court be unfavorable to the negroes, to forciblv 
remove them from jail and put them on board the vessel, on their 
way to their native land, from which they had been stolen. So 
violent a course w^as not necessary. They were declared free and 
soon afterwards a greater part of them were sent to Africa. Cin- 
quez, their leader in the rising on shipboard, went with the others. 
He turned out to be rather a bad man and was disappointing to the 
philanthropic gentlemen who had done much in his behalf. A por- 
trait, in oil, of Cinquez, painted by Jocelyn, is in possession of a 
wealthy family of Philadelphia. Mr. Baldwin w-as the father of 
Simeon E. Baldwin, who, as counsel for the Historical Society, did 
much, by means of a temporary injunction and otherwise, to retard 
the pulUng down of the State House. Col Stanton Pendleton was 
jailer, and Norris Wilcox, United States marshal, during the time 
when the negroes were in New Haven county jail. William B. 
Goodyear and another gentleman, paid an artist to paint a very large 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. ] 2 J 

picture, representing the Africans fighting for liberty on board the 
slaver. It was exhibited in one or two towns, but people generally 
did not go to see it and for a time it was in charge of the Historical 
Society and kept in the old county court room. It is now owned in 
the Goodyear family. Critics objected that the portraits of the 
actors in the tragedy were not likenesses and that the scene of the 
life and death struggle was not accurately represented. 

No lawyer of the New Haven Bar was more distinguished for high 
quality, old school manners, than Hon. Alfred Blackman, elected 
Mayor in 1865. He died April 28, 1880, and at a Bar meeting held 
to take suitable action, ex-Governor Charles R. IngersoU said, dur- 
ing his remarks upon that occasion: "No one was better known 
upon our streets, and his affable presence, companionable ways and 
shrewd and lively conversation, brought to him from all pursuits 
warm, personal friends." He had a most felicitous way of encoun- 
tering rudeness and stupidity on the part of persons with whom he 
was brought in contact, for it was then that his exceeding urbanity 
was most scrupulously and effectively exercised. All citizens knew 
him. He was sensitive whenever his thoroughly democratic sym- 
pathies were in any way assaulted. He knew Professor Silliman, 
and the professor knew him. But frequently when the two men 
happened to pass each other on the street, Professor Silliman would 
not appear to be aware of the circumstance. He would be glancing 
upward toward the sky or across the street, or would be taking out 
or putting into his pocket, his handkerchief, so that he would not 
see the polite bow of T^idge Blackman. The latter fancied that 
Professor Silliman's behavior savored of Hillhouse avenue aristoc- 
racy, offensively displayed, and once called the attention of a friend 
to the matter. Said he : " I do not know why Professor Silliman, who 
is walking this w^ay, will not see me as we pass each other, but please 
note that he will be doing something to prevent him. As the two 
men neared each other Professor Silliman took a look at the sky 
and did not appear to see anybody. A short time afterward during 
the mayoralty of Henry Peck, the President of the United States— 



128 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

James K. Polk — was the guest of the city and had a fine reception 
in the State House. Hon. Alfred Blacknian, as chairman of the com- 
mittee, introduced some of the leading citizens of New Haven to the 
country's chief magistrate. The big doors at the north and south 
ends of the building were opened wide, the President and his sup- 
porters standing on the floor of the main hall, near the north doors, 
and a throng of gentlemen passed through the hall from south to 
north. The second man to be introduced to the President, was 
Theodore D. Woolsey. Mr. Blackman, impressively and with much 
polish of manner, introduced President Woolsey, of Yale, to Presi- 
dent Polk, the latter making a remark attesting his gratification at 
meeting so renowned a scholar and eminent man. Following Presi- 
dent Woolsey were some of the college faculty, and next to Presi- 
dent Woolsey approached Professor Silliman. Judge Blackman 
had seen him in the line. As he reached the proper place, Judge 
Blackman said to him : 

" Do you wish to be introduced to the President 1 " 

"Yes, sir," said Professor Silliman. 

"What name ?" enquired the polite committee-man. 

"Silliman." 

Raising his voice a little and inclining his head toward the pro- 
fessor, Judge Blackman again enquired : " What name did vou 
say?" 

"Silliman," once more announced the owner of the name, 
evidentlv astonished at not being instantlv recognized. 

"Ah! Yes!" Turning toward the President, the introduction 
was effected. " President Polk — Silliman." 

The President, taking his cue from the cnrt method of the introduc- 
ing committee-man, nodded to the professor as though somewhat 
surprised and in a moment another gentleman was being politelv 
introduced. 

"I r-a-t-h-e-r think," remarked Judge Blackman, to his friend 
whom he met on Church street, soon after the reception was over, 
" that the next time we happen to meet. Professor Silliman will 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 129 

really recollect me. I think he will know me well enough to see 
me." James Buchanan visited New^ Haven, at the same time with 
President Polk. He was then Secretarv of State. Dr. Plinv A. 
Jewett was chief marshal of the occasion. 

In 1854, Henry Dutton was the candidate of the whigs for 
governor. The special interests which engaged the attention of the 
people, was the anti-Nebraska movement, the Maine liquor law, the 
Air Line Railroad and to some extent, the question of " putting none 
but Americans on guard," or in places of public trust. These ele- 
ments prevailed with about three-quarters of the General Assemblv. 
The result of the election gave Dutton 9,083 ; Samuel Ingham, of 
Essex, lacking 4,165 of an election. The candidates were Ingham. 
Democrat; Dutton, whig ; Chapman. Maine law; Hooker, free soil. 
In the Legislature the Hon. Henry Dutton had a majority of foriv- 
seven votes, 'i'he military line of the election parade was under com- 
mand of Col. John Arnold, and the troops countermaiched through 
Temple, Elm and Church streets. At the Tontine there was a halt. 
and the lieutenant-governor and other officers were formallv 
received. The procession marched through Crown, York, Elm, 
State, (31ive, Wooster Place, Chapel and Temple streets, to the State 
House. Charles Bishop, the chief marshal, had for assistants : 
Newton Moses, Noyes C. Mix, Hiram Camp, A. C. Andrews, Charles 
S. Candee, William R. She! ton, Howard B. Ensign, Elam Hull, Jr., 
Thomas Lawion, A. C. Speny, N. D. Sperry, John C. Hollister, 
Asa T. Cooper, George Lindley, Alfred H. Terry, S. B. Jerome, A. 
B. Mai lory, \V. M. White. Henry i\. Lewis, Wales French, Miles 
Tutlle, Jr., Andrew Hotchkiss, Stephen Bishop. Elias Bishop, Robert 
Foot, Lafayette S. Root, Leonard Linsley, Charles S. Hall, A. C. 
Blakeslee, Ruel P. Cowles, L. A. Dickinson and Stephen Barnes. 
The troops were reviewed on the Green by Major-General Guyer and 
Brigadier-General Hallenbeck. In the evening the Foot Guards 
gave a supper at the L^nion House. Governor Dution being pres- 
ent. This was the year in which Deacon Blair, the undertaker, died. 
Rossiter, the artist, gave an exhibition of his paintings at Brewster 
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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 131 

Plall, one of the works of art being his picture of the " Captive 
Israelites." The 31st of July, 1854, was the last day on which citi- 
zens could get a drop of intoxicating liquor, and the following day 
die enactment prohibitory went into full effect. A large body of 
"Invincibles " paraded the streets in a grand glorification or rather 
"blow-out," which was to be their last. Some of the closed saloons 
were draped in black. Eighty-eight thousand dollars had been 
appropriated by Congress for a new custom house, and Dr. Worthing- 
ton Hooker was writing his valuable physiology for schools. The 
New York and New Haven Railroad Company was paying $8 a cord 
for wood for burning on its locomotives. The prohibitory liquor 
law was never fully executed in New Haven although more strictly 
enforced than in many other places in the State. Henry Gruenert, 
a Dane, proprietor of the Columbian Garden on Meadow street, for 
many years, and the maker of a very excellent kind of root beer, in 
heavy stone-ware bottles, did not refuse to sell liquors to such cus- 
tomers as were not likely to betray him. Later, in the second story of 
a building on Union street, occupied on the ground floor by Norman 
W. Rood, as a baggage express office, the knowing ones could find 
something with which to quench their thirst. Soon afterward a 
Spaniard named Peter Munoz, opened a house on State near Grand 
street, where the boys could meet and drink in private, and very 
soon, in two or three other places, lager beer could be bought. Jt 
is not within the scope of such a work as this, to describe the riotous 
scenes or to even attempt to relate the angry collisions which in 
New Haven ar.d in other towns of the State, grew out of the passage 
of the prohibitory liquor law and the efforts toward its enforcement. 
Some citizens, otherwise of no particular character, became famous 
as supporters of the law and amateur detectives. On one occasion, 
when there was a town meeting (September 27) to determine 
whether New Haven should invest money in liquors to be sold 
under sanction of a prescription from a doctor, a noisy and excited 
crowd filled the basement room of the State House, used as a town 
hall. There was no possibility of preserving order, nor could a vote 



] ^2 THE lllsrORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

be taken. There was an adjournment to the north steps of the Stale 
House. Speeclies wtre made by Rev. Leonard Bacon on one side 
of the question and Jonalhan Stoddard on the other. People glared 
at each other and abused each other like crazy men, and there was 
a great deal of shouting and indecorous conduct. Douglass Coan, 
brother of Sher. Coan, belter known as Mr. S. C Campbell, of the 
Campbell minstrels, and subsequently as the baritone of the Pyne- 
Harrison Opera Company, slapped Rev. Mr. Garheld in the face, the 
latter being very indignant at this insult to a clergyman. There 
was a majority (as counted j of 239 out of 3,053 votes, in favor of 
having the town purchase liquors, and the vote was considered to be 
a test as to whether the people would sustain the prohibitory law. 

It will be a relief to turn from the consideration of these stormy 
days, when the mad passions of men appeared to rage, to look back 
for a moment to the year 1724, when the number of all kinds of 
buildings in ihe citv was only 163. In 1787, Samuel Chittenden 
advertised that " having become dead to the world that he might 
live to God, proposes to sell (God willing) at public vendue, the 
house and lot where he now lives." The ad\ertisement gives no 
hint as to where the advertiser iiUended to reside after taking his 
contemplated departure from his house. In these days some of the 
lien-coops of the wealthy are healthier and warmer in winter than 
some of the homes of the poor. Society, however, is looking into 
this and similar matters, and there are political optimists who have 
faith in the abolishment of poverty at a future day. Then, perhaps, 
will be also abolished, the nerve-torturino- factorv whistles and the 
other useless noises, which have for a long time afflicted the citizens 
of dear, old, conservative, patient New Haven. It was in 1787, 
that Gov. Samuel Huntington advertised a reward for Daniel Shays, 
Luke Day, Adam Wheeler and Eli Parsons, ringleaders in the Mas- 
sachusetts rebellion, and supposed to be then hiding in Connecticut. 
Lead troughs were at so early a date as this, recommended to be 
placed around trees, to catch the insects producing the canker worm, 
but thev were filled with water instead of oil. This was the vear in 



I'HE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 133 

which Alfred Hewes, of New Jersey, made and sold Windsor chairs, 
at his shop on Chapel street. 

The Palladium, September 29, 1854, said: "We agree that the 
Green should not have been occupied by any State House. The 
room is too precious for any such occupancy." In view of more 
recent editorial expressions regarding the question of repairing the 
building or removing it from the Green, the above transcription is 
interesting. From the great mass of arguments on both sides of 
the question, printed in the New Haven newspapers for the past 
ten years it is absolutely impossible to fairly state the reasons given 
pro and con. The New Haven Register was at the expense of 
publishing a picture of the building, showing cracks in its 'stucco- 
covered wall and the absence of some of the marble of the steps 
and of the false water table or basement veneering. One side of 
the question was presented as it then stood in the mind of a writer 
in the Palladiinn, November 22, 1888, whose screed was signed " Vox 
Populi," and which represents pretty well, the views of many citizens 
at that time. It read as follows : 

" It is a public misfortune for any city or state, whenever the 
columns of its newspapers are not open for the free and fair discus- 
sion of public questions ; but it is always a far greater evil and one 
more destructive of the highest interests of any community when 
any of its newspapers advocate the adoption of municipal measures 
which can only advance the selfish interests of a few schemers and 
speculators, in opposition to the plainest interests of the people." 
[The foregoing appears to be a reflection upon the Register, which ad- 
vocated the destruction of the building. — Ed.] ** Your recent edito- 
rial on the State House question, is therefore gratifying to me and 
to a large proportion of the citizens of New Haven, because of its 
independence of cliques and the manifest determination of the 
Palladinvi to represent and advance the interests of the people of 
New Haven. We are beginning to find out who they are, inside and 
outside of the Common Council, who are working to nullify and 
upset the late vote of the people, who by a large majority declared 



134 ^^^^ HISTORY OF THE STATE J JO USE. 

their will in favor of an appropriation of $30,000 for repairing the 
State House. The speculative firms and the institution which are 
co-operating, each from a different but thoroughly selfish standpoint, 
to so befog the public mind that it will not perceive the subtle 
trickery which underlies the fraudulent proposition to submit the 
fate of the building to another popular vote on the question : ' Will 
you remove the building or appropriate $100,000 to repair it.-*' are 
well known and ought to be exposed. If they suppose their duplic- 
ity is not perfectly appreciated and the wretched stuff they give us 
in editorials, as well as the insulting resolutions of Tom, Dick and 
Harry, together with the insane babble of the special lunatic of the 
syndicate — if they suppose these are not taken at their real value, 
they are deceived. 

" The advocates of repairing the building give valued and in- 
telligent reasons for their opinions and those reasons have never 
yet been successfully controverted by either of those interested 
parties or their paid attorneys." [This last paragraph appears to be 
directed against either the faculty of Yale, or some of the professors. 
— Ed.] "The arguments offered by newpapers for the removal of 
the building are too puerile to bear repeating ; while the real princi- 
pals in the background seem to be no better able to enlighten us ; so 
that we are compelled to adopt the belief that their real reasons 
Cor desiring the destruction of this very valuable building are such 
as they would be ashamed to avow. 

" Tlie Court of Common Council, unwilling or not brave enough 
to decide the question whether the State House should be repaired, 
referred it to the people for decision, and at the time appointed, it 
was decided by the people by a large majority, in favor of repairing 
the building. But it would be more nearly true to say the council 
would never have referred the question to the popular vote for 
decision, if the speculators and their backers had dreamed the 
people would decide against them. It did, however, decide against 
them and in favor of the rights of the people, as against a corpora- 
tion. Why does the council now refuse to comply with the condi- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE, 1 35 

tions of its own making ? Is it because certain lawyers, as paid 
attorneys of one of the parties in interest, have by special pleading 
so mystified the question that members of the board of aldermen and 
council, begin to think that their former action was illegal ? Every 
member knows better. 

" But the question which that body has got to face, is this : The 
council does, or not, consider itself bound by its own acts. If it 
does not think itself bound bv its own acts, and did not intend to 
obey the edict of the popular will, why was the question submitted 
to the people for its decision ? If, on the other hand, it does regard 
the will of the people as of paramount authority, why the hesitation 
to obey its behests } If now, the council and the contractors and 
their responsible backers find themselves in a common hole out of 
which it will not be easy if it will be possible, for them to escape 
unhurt, who can they blame but themselves ? There is no need to 
name the parties and their attorneys and agents by whose means the 
Common Council has been led into a position so disreputable and 
indefensible. They are well known and are likely to become better 
known. But it is a pity that men occupying public positions of 
trust as public servants, should be willing to array themselves in 
opposition to the will of the people, definitely expressed, and take 
action for which not one of the parties, either the attorneys or their 
principals, has yet been able to assign a sensible reason. They all 
shrink from the sunlight and annoyance from behind a screen their 
semi-judicial opinions, but offer no reasons against putting in repair 
for public use, this very valuable building. 

" There must be, howev'er, very positive reasons — definite and 
diverse — but not necessarily conflicting reasons (and they may even 
be co-operative), why these queer people of such opposite tastes 
and habits of mind, should desire so earnestly the accomplishment 
of the same thing — the destruction of almost the best built public 
building in Connecticut. Who, among the enemies of the State 
House (and they are all antagonistic to the people and their 



! 30 THE HISTORY OF THE ST A TE HOUSE. 

interests), is expecting to reap material or imaginary benefits by 
means of its destruction ? 

"The sclieming contractor looks for his profits in the job of 
removal and the value of old materials, to say nothing of possible 
contracts for a new library building, and perhaps the sale of land ; 
but the college professor who ' hopes to live long enough to see 
the Green cleared, not onlv of the old State House but the churches 
as well,' has his reasons too, perhaps, but is too politic to declare 
them prematurely. Very well, gentlemen, let this hocus pocus 
leirislation c>o on. But remember this : if the State House is to be 
destroyed or removed by such means, every one of the churches on 
the Green will have to go also. 

'' It has recently been suggested that some of the parties in ^ 
interest are hoping to entangle the question of repairs or removal 
of the State House with the political issues growing out of our 
approaching city and town elections. If so, it will be a pertinent 
question to be asked of gentlemen candidates : ' On which side are • 
you to be found ? ' If you are going to bring this subject up for 
another popular vote, showing that you disregard the binding force 
of the one already taken by virtue of legal authority, let it be so ; 
but when you ask for nominations in ward primaries for the various 
offices you seek, we shall ask : ' How will you vote on the question 
at issue? ' If elected to office in the city government, will you vote 
for or against the repair and preservation of the State House, for the 
])urposes of a public library ? 

" The subject is not by any means exh.austed, but we rest here." 

The foregoing is reprinted, not as presenting the arguments in 
favor of saving the State House, but as a fair specimen of column 
after column, which if placed together endwise, would piobably 
measure some miles, which during the past ten years ha\e been 
printed \\\ New Haven newspapers, often with the effect of obscur- 
ing the truth and sometimes of either enlightening *' the general 
reader," or tending to drive him into idiocy. 

An excellent idea of the appearance of the Green in 1800 can be 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. I37 

had by a study of the accompanying picture. It was drawn and 
engraved with fidelity to an original picture of that date, painted in 
oil colors. In the distance, about midway between the two churches, 
can be seen the house on the Yale grounds, occupied by the presi- 
dent of the college. The two college buildings are on the line with 
it and in the vista between the Center, or " middle brick '' church 
and New Haven's second State House. To the extreme right, a little 
east of the church building before mentioned, are Sabba-day houses. 
The first burying in this town is also shown. At a public entertain- 
ment given in the city, about half a century ago, a prize was offered 
such patron as should, in the judgment of a committee, present the 
wittiest conundrum, to be read from the platform. The one awarded 
the prize was this : '' Why is the Green like the whole earth .? " The 
answer was : '' Because it has Day on one side and (K) night on the 
other." At that time, Jeremiah Day was living in the president's 
house, and Dr. Jonathan Knight lived on Church street. A very 
correct view of the second State House is presented. It is at the 
left of the picture. 

At the time of the first Common Council meeting in 1784, the popu- 
lation of New Haven was less than 3000, and for a long lime the 
Common Council transactions were very subordinate to the will of the 
people as expressed at the town meetings or managed by the select- 
men. At a large number of the stated common council meetings, 
nothing was done beyond the passage of measures calculated to pro- 
tect the city from fire. The Colonization Society was in a very 
nourishing condition in 1854. At their annual meeting that year, 
Governor Dutton presided, the president, Professor Silliman, being- 
out (jf town, Henry Clay of Kentucky was a member of the society. 
Mr. Ashnuin, the society's first agent at Liberia, Africa, as is told on 
his moinniient, was born at Champlain, N. Y., and died in New 
Haven, August 25, 1828. Rev. Leonard Bacon preached the funeral 
sermon at the Center Church. The monument to Ashmun is after 
the model of Scipio Africanus at Rome. Rev. Mr. Croswell offici- 
ated at the grave, and Mr. Gurlev, secretary of the American Coloni- 




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140 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

zation Society, made an address. The history of Liberia can be found 
in various publications. 

After Mavor Henrv F. Peck sifrned the order for the removal of 
the State House (June 8, 1889), some apprehension was felt by those 
wlio had voted for the removal, that there would be legal steps taken 
to prevent carrying out the order. They were not mistaken, for at 
the solicitation of Eii \\Miitney, E. S. Greeley, James Reynolds, E. B. 
Bowditch, Levi Ives, Henry L. Hotchkiss, Charles W. Scranton, 
Maier Zunder, Joel A. Sperry, Henry S. Dawson, Henry Bronson, 
Leonard J. Sanford, John P. Tuttle, Ellsworth L Foote, Daniel L. 
Daggett, Joseph Parker, William H, Eaton, Max Adler, Patrick H. 
Cronan, Charles S. Leete, Stephen G. Hubbard, R. P. Cowles, Rob- 
ert S. Ives, Thomas R. Trowbridge, George Hotchkiss, 2d, Horace 
Day, L. R. Gildersleeve, Joseph Sheldon, Simeon E. Baldwin, Wil- 
liam H. Kingsley, Joseph R, Colton, C. B. Bowers, Charles R, Coan, 
James M. B. Dwight, John H. Whiting, Charles H. Townshend, 
Johnson T. Piatt, W^illiam Hillhouse, Edwaid R. Hayes, William R. 
H. Trowbridge, Rutherford Trowbridge. Charles L. Baldwin, James 
E. English, William B. Goodyear, and William C. Robinson^ the 
Superior Court, Judge Fenn, granted a temporary injunction to 
restrain the city from proceeding. The order, dated June 13, 1889, 
read as follows : 

" Ordered, That the City of New Haven and John W. Lake, City Auditor, and all 
other officers or agents of said citv, be and they are hereby enjoined against taking 
any further action under the order of the Court of Conuuon Council, approved 
June 8, 1S89, described in said complaint, or do any act in execution thereof, and 
against making or attemj^ting to make anv contract for or otiierwise authorizing 
the destruction or removal of the old State House building, until the session of 
this court, to which said action is returnable and the further order of the court 
thereon, and its appearing that this injunction will work no damage to the defend- 
ants, it is ordered that this injunction issue without any bonds. 

" And 7f is fitrt/wr ordered, 'VhTit notice hereof be given to said citv, and said 
J(;hn W. Lake, City Auditor, bv some proper officer, by leaving a true and 
attested copy of this order and of the original complaint and jirocess in said 
action, as soon as may be, with the clerk of said city, or at his usual place of 
abode." 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. I4I 

The paper was served by ^^'illianl E. Higgins, a deputy sheriff. 
The complaiiU was lenglhy and recited numerous facts, mingled with 
arguments, some of which are here given. The plaintiffs repre- 
sented $2,100,000 worth of propertv. The building was substantially 
built". It was well proportioned, and contained handsome rooms for 
any public use. The city and county had contributed toward the 
expense of building, and therefore tiie county liad an equitable 
interest in it. The State, July 8, 1874, relinquished all its interest 
in the building to the city of New Haven, and the title was vested in 
the city after the first Wednesday of May, 1876. The Young Men's 
Institute, the New Haven Colony Historical Society, the United 
Workers, the Museum of Industrial Art, the Grand Army of the 
Republic, and other organizations of a public or charitable character, 
had from time to time occupied part of the rooms, and the city had 
used a part of the building for storage purposes. In 1885, a commit- 
tee of the Connnon Council had reported that necessary repairs 
would cost $23,000, the report being accepted and a])proved July 14, 
1885. A joint special connnittee reported October 31, 1887, that 
whether the building should be repaired or removed, could expedi- 
ently be submitted to a vote of the freemen. This report was signed 
on behalf of the Aldermen, by J. Rice \\'inchell, Owen A. Groark 
and Andrew J. Clerkin, and on behalf of the Councilmen, by Sher- 
wood S. Thompson, T. W. Sucher, William Keane and James N. 
Coe. Provision was made for submitting the vote to the people on 
December 6, 1887, these being the two adverse propositions : 

"Proposition First. — The State House building shall be removed from the 
Green or Public Square, at the expense of the city, as soon as may be practicable. 

"Proposition Second. — The State House building shall be repaired by the city 
at an expense not to exceed thirty thousand dollars, as soon as practicable and 
shall be put to such uses, under the " [etc., etc.]. 

In case of the adoption of the first proposition (for removal), it 
was made the duty of the Board of Public Works, to advertise for 
bids, and award the contract for removal to the lowest and best 



142 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE, 

bidder. If the vote was to repair, the Common Council, Mayor and 
Auditor were authorized to contract for the repair, and the Common 
Council must lay a special tax to raise money for the cost. The 
election resulted in a majority vote for repair, of over 1,250, the total 
number of ballots cast being 8,689, December, 1887, the Common 
Council passed the following : 

'■'Ordered, By the Court of Common Council of the city of New Haven, that 
the building known as the ' old State House,' situate upon the Public Square 
of this city, be repaired in accordance with the terms and conditions of said 
second proposition." 

A State House Commission was created with the mayor as presi- 
dent ex officio,, to carry out the work as ordered. The commission 
made no repairs, but went out of existence December 31, 1888 ; the 
whole matter was referred to a committee, but it held no public hear- 
ing, and June 3, 1889, four of the members recommended that the 
auditor be empowered to advertise for bids to take away the build- 
ing. The point made in the application for the injunction was, that 
this report had been made, without the formality of first giving a 
hearing to the citizens, as though the whole matter had not been dis- 
cussed by citizens and newspapers until every thread of fact and 
argument was nearly worn out. The petitioners for the injunction 
also made the point that an order^ submitted by the committee, 
ordering the auditor to advertise for bids and contract for taking 
away the State House, had not been referred to a committee by the 
Common Council — that the jDrder to repair at a cost not to exceed 
$30,000 had not been repealed, but that without these formalities, 
vital to a proper conduct of business, the order was inconsiderately 
passed by the aldermen and June 7, 1889, by the councilmen also. 
The meeting, it was claimed, of the councilmen, was not legally 
called for acting upon the order. John W. Lake, immediately after 
the signing of the order by the mayor, advertised for bids, and it 
was averred that the passage of the order was a gross breach of 
trust, directing the destruction of valuable city property, in disregard 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. I43 

of the voie of the freemen and a violation of section twenty-eight of 
the city charter, which makes it the duty of the authorities to pro- 
tect from injury or defacement all public buildings. It was also 
claimed that the members of the Common Council were not owners 
of much property and were assessed on the grand list of taxable 
property only $142,000. The order to pull down was not within the 
power of the Common Council to make, for it delegated its power to 
Auditor Lake. The applicants further said that it would cost from 
live thousand to fifteen thousand dollars to take down the building- 
and that no appropriation had been made for the expenditure as 
required by the city charter, and that any such order must be exe- 
cuted by the board of public works and not by the auditor. The old 
State House was needed for a public library, and to build a build- 
ing as good as the State House would cause an outlay of not less 
than two hundred thousand dollars and the pulling down of the State 
House and erection of another building would cost taxpayers a 
quarter of a million dollars. 

Thomas R. Trowbridge made oath that these representations were 
true, but after the matter was given a hearing, this injunction was 
dissolved and Auditor Lake, after taking the opinion of the corpora- 
tion counsel, Prof. William K. Townsend, of the Yale Law School, 
made the contract with Mr. Montgomery. Citizen Benjamin Noyes, 
after the work of demolition was commenced, said he believed the 
building could yet be saved, before it should be damaged beyond 
repair. So he, together with Ransom Hills and a few other citizens 
went to Hartford and persuaded Judge Carpenter of the Superior 
Court, to grant another temporary injunction. Corporation Counsel 
Townsend being out of the city, Lawyer George D. Watrous acted in 
behalf of the Common Council, P^x-Governor Charles R. Ingersoll 
being associated with him. Ex-Judge L. E. Monson was attorney 
for Mr, Noves and his friends. Judge Carpenter came to New 
Haven and after hearing the parties all around, decided that there 
was no new matter in this second application for an injunction and 
s~aid that he had been too hasty in making the restraining order, 



144 ^^^ HISTORY OF THE STAIE HOUSE. 

He therefore dissolved the second injunction, and Mr. Montgomery, 
who had been compelled for a day or two, to remain idle, resumed 
operations. 

One point made by the applicants for the second injunction, was 
that inasmuch as the county had been taxed to pay part of the cost 
of building the State House, therefore, the ciiy had no exclusive 
ownership in it, but a record was shown the judge, of a meeting of 
county representatives, in which they declared that the county had 
no property ownership in it. It appears that the county had no 
title of record or any deed from either the State or city. 

The work of destruction, after being commenced at the northwest 
corner of the steps of the building, was continued by the stripping 
off of the tin roofing, large sheets of which were lowered to the plat- 
form of the porch. In a few days preparation was made to have the 
six columns at the north end of the building, fall at once. Part of 
the roof timbers had been removed. Timbers connecting the roof 
of the portico with the main building, were sawed through. Holes 
were made above the tops of the columns at the east and west 
corners. Through these were passed heavy iron cables, attached to 
a long piece of strong, thick cordage, one end of which was attached 
to a windlass or capstan, anchored to the ground and worked by 
seven men. A gathering of people, estimated by some to be three 
thousand in number, assembled on the Green to see the columns 
fall. Photographers were on hand with their instruments. The 
contractor, aided by policemen, kept the large crowd of men, women 
and children present, outside of a line of ropes stretched at some 
distance from the building. Around and around walked the wind- 
lass-men, and as the rope began to strain, and the big pulley-blocks 
to creak, a great silence prevailed among the people, who watched 
everything with breathless interest, and eyes and generally mouths, 
wide open. Presently was heard an ominous sound of the cracking 
of the lower part of the columns, which had previously been cut 
about half way through, at their foundation. Bits of plaster were 
seen to fall and a moment afterward came the grand crash, all the 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 



145 



pillars falling with majestic effect. The one towaitl the west leaned 
first, the others immediately following the motion, so that all ap- 
peared to strike the ground at nearly the same moment. Clouds 
of lime-dust, like a thick smoke filled the air. A great shout went 
up from the people and ev^erybody said that the whole show was a 
perfect success. \\'hen the columns struck the eaith. ihe neighbor- 




ing buildings felt the jar, and to the spectators was brought vividly 
to mind the accounts of famous earthquakes in past times when 
whole cities tumbled into ruins. Equally a success was the pulling 
down of the columns of the south end of the building, and it was 
more interesting because all the superstructure of the front of the 
portico was brought down with them. ' Two or three days afterward, 
a large piece of the front wall of the south end was pulled down. 
Some of the west wall had already fallen and at this point in the 



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148 THE IIISIVRY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

work, the south steps having been taken awav, a photograph was 
taken of the ruins, of which the picture here siiown is a true copy. 
The photograph was taken by Bundy & Filley, 838 Chapel street, 
who make a specialty of this branch of the art. 

To the extreme right is seen a window and part of the rear of the 
Center Church. Looking past that, appears the building, once the 
residence of Joseph E. Sheffield, and occupied by the Misses 
Edwards, whose school for young ladies has been very successful 
for many years. The arched ceiling over the Hall of the Represent- 
atives is shown, as well as the tiat ceiling hung under it, to improve 
the acoustic advantages of the hall. There can also be seen the 
pilasters of the north wall of the hall. Also the main entrance 
to the building, and to the right of the centre, a piece of one of the 
fallen columns. Tht rooms on the west side of the building were 
occupied with objects of interest of the Historical Society. From 
the front can be seen a little of the brick arches which supported 
the platform of the porch. The trees on the Green are seen in full 
foliage. The contractor levelled the southwest corner of the struct- 
ure by exploding twenty-five pounds of gunpowder, on which about 
eight cart loads of earth were deposited, in order to give effect to the 
charge at the lowest part of the basement. Other attempts to bring 
down parts of the building by use of gunpowder were not so suc- 
cessful. The contractor sold the building-stone as fast as it could 
l)e furnished to the buyers, who used it in building cellar walls in 
various pans of the city. Much of the old mortar was utilized in 
filling depressions in some of the roadways of the city. 

In the City Year Book for 1888 will be found an interesting 
paper furnished by J. Birney Tuttle, giving a brief historical account 
of New Haven, together with a few statistics showing the general 
conditions of the city as regards improvements, manufacturing 
interests, and other things which go toward a complete statement of 
municipal affairs. From this is here made a syllabus which in 
connection with facts and dates from other sources, will be worth\ 
of preservation. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 1 49 

Goffe, Whailey and Dixwell, the judges who assisted in condemn- 
ing King Charles I. to death, arrived in New Haven, 1660. 

The last victim of the whipping post on the Green, was in 1831. 

The town was invaded by the British under General Tryon and 
2,500 troops, June 5, 1779. 

Termination of the war celebrated on the Green, the last Thurs- 
day in April, 1783. 

Population of the ciiy in 1787 numbered 3,540 souls, and in 1801, 
it had increased to 4,000. 

Grove Street Cemetery founded in 1796. 

Roger Sherman, the first ma3'or, died in 1793. He had signed the 
address of the American colonists to the King of England, the 
Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and 
the Constitution. 

Declaration of peace made known February 13, 1815. 

Large fire on Long Wharf, destroyed twenty-six stores, October 
28, 1820. 

First steamboat to navigate Long Lsland Sound, the Fulton, 
Captain Bunker, arrived at New Haven from New York, March 12, 
1815. 

Farmington canal completed 1825. 

Hartford and New Haven railroad finished 1840. 

Railroad connection with New London accomplished 1852. 

Fight between Yale students and town boys, and stabbing of a 
man by a student, on Chapel near Church street, 1854. 

Excitement at news of the beginning of the war between North 
and South, April, 1861. 

Death of Rear-Admiral Andrew Hull Foote in New York, June 
26, 1863 ; buried in Grove Street Cemetery. 

First Connecticut regiment leaves for the scene of war for the 
Union, May 9, 1861. 

First 'New Haven officer killed in battle. Major Theodore Win- 
throp : buried in Grove Street Cemetery. 

New Haven Grays organized 18 16. 



1^0 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

Gen. Alfred H. Terry, honored by Congress for his part in the 
capture of Fort Fisher, 1865. 

New Haven's losses of men in the war for the Union, numbered 

497- 

New Haven contributed to the war in money, $29,681,409. 

New Haven's centennial celebrated, Fourth of July, 1884, in 
commemoration of the incorporation of the city. Governor Waller 
present. 

Soldiers' and sailors' monument on East Rock Park, dedicated 
June 17, 1887. 

Founders' Day celebrated, April 25, 1888, the old Lancasterian 
school bovs being in the procession with their teacher, John E. 
Lovell, in the ninety-fourth year of his age. 

Population in 1889, estimated 85,000. 

Annual cost of police department about $120,000. 

Assessed value of taxable property in 1888, $50,000,000. 

City Hall called " Hall of Record," technically, built 1861. 

Real estate owned by the city and school district valued at 
$2,000,000 in 1889. 

Annual cost of fire department, about $80,000. 

The police patrol 131 miles of streets. 

Elm tree, corner of Chapel and Church streets, planted April 17, 
1790. 

First hospital building completed 1832. 

New Haven Dispensary for free advice and medicine for the poor, 
established 1872. 

Orphan Asylum (Protestant) established 1833. 

Saint Francis Orphan Asylum, supported by Roman Catholics, 
managed "by Sisters of Mercy, organized 1884. 

Home for the Friendless, incorporated 1869. Cares for unfor- 
tunate girls and women. 

First newspaper published in New Haven, 1755. 

Number of manufacturing enterprises about one thousand, repre- 
senting a capital of $25,000,000. 



fBE HISTORY OF THE STA TE HOUSE. \ 5 { 

Number of banking institutions, sixteen. Seven national banks 
with an aggregate capital stock of $4,764,800 and a surplus of 
$1,200,000. Four savings banks with local deposits of $11,526,954.41 
and a surplus of $390,284.58. 

Vakie of carriages manufactured each year, $2,000,000 ; hardware, 
$2,500,000. Total annual product of manufactures, $30,000,000. 
Number of horse railroad companies operating, six. 

Board of Health, organized 1872. 

Average daily consumption of city water, about nine hundred 
million gallons. 

Yale College founded 1701 at Branford, Conn. Located at Kil- 
lingworth till 1707. First commencement, at Saybrook, 1702. 
Located in New Haven, 17 17. 

Number of Yale graduates and under-graduates in service, in the 
War for the Union, 758, of whom 640 held commissions. 

New Haven's graded school system begun 1853. 

Number of mutual benefit societies or branches of large organiza- 
tions, 52. 

Number of temperance societies or divisions, 25. 

Number of churches, 60, beside missions. 

New Haven Colony, absorbed by Connecticut under the charter 
granted to Governor Winthrop by Charles U., 1662, New Haven 
acquiescing, December 14, 1664. 

Stephen Goodyear, deputy governor of the New Haven Colony, 
died in London, 1658. Matthew Gilbert, a deputy governor, died 
1680. His grave-stone is to be seen outside of the iron railing, in 
the rear of Center Church. It is but a few inches out of the 
ground. 

-David Yale, father of Elihu Yale, after whom the University is 
named, removed to Boston, 1645. 

David Wooster, after whom is named Wooster square, died at 
Danbur}', May, 1777, from wounds received in battle, at Ridge- 
field. 



152 THE HISTORY OF THE STA/E HOUSE. 

Noah Webster, author of Webster's dictionary, died in New Haven, 

1843- 

Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin, died 1825. Buried in 

Grove Street Cemetery. 

First Episcopal Church built in New Haven, 1753. 

First Methodist Church building erected 1807. First Baptist 
Church built 1822. First Roman Catholic Church built 1834. First 
LIniversalist Church built 187 1. 

New Ha\en bought the town of Greenwich, 1640. 

A ship sailed from New Haven, January, 1647, ''^ which were Mr. 
Gregson and other gentlemen, bound for London, but nothing was 
ever afterward heard of her. 

The Dutch seized a ship in New Haven harboi, 1648. 

Fifty men of New Haven and Branford, altempling to settle in 
Delaware, were imprisoned by the Dutch, 165 1. 

First public "commencement '' of Vale College in New Haven, 
September 10, 17 18. 

Rev. George Whitefield arrived, 1740. All the people worried 
about religion. In 1745, Mr. Whitefield preached to the people 
gathered on the Green. 

First book printed in New Haven, 1755. 

]Margaret, wife of Benedict Arnold, died 1775. 

Yellow fever in New Haven, 1794. 

Blue meeting house occupied for the last lime, 1815. 

Speech by Red Jacket, Indian Chief, at the Tontine, March 12, 
1829. 

Death of Rev. Claudius Herrick, 183 1. 

Harbor frozen over, six weeks, in the winter of 1835-6. 

Cars commenced to run between New Haven and Meriden, 1839. 

Canal railroad opened to Plainville, 1848. Same year, Catholic 
Church burned, corner York street and Davenport avenue. 

First railroad cars to New York, December, 1848. 

A party of New Ha\-eners started for the gold fields of California, 
March 12, 1849. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOCST. I 53 

Execution of Foote and McCaffrey, at New Haven county jail, 
October 2, 1850. 

Prebident James Monroe visited New Haven, 181 7. He was 
received by the military and citizens and given a dinner. Sunday 
morning he attended at the Center Church and in the afternoon at 
Trinity. 

Wonderful exhibition of shooting stars in the morning of November 
13' 1833. 

Rev. Edwin Harwood elected rector of Trinity Church, 1859. 
Rev. Harry P. Nichols elected assistant minister, 1883. 

First rector of St. Paul's Church, Rev. Samuel Cooke, elected July 
22, 1845. 

St. Thomas' Episcopal Church organized in 1848. Christ Church, 
now in Broadway, organized 1856. First service in the present 
building, January 6, i860. 

Grace Church, Blatchley avenue, organized April 10, 187 1 

The Howard Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, organized 
1872. 

St. John Street Methodist Episcopal Church, organized 1840 

First Baptist Church organized October 30, 18 16. A second 
Baptist Church formed 1842. 

The Grand Avenue Baptist Church organized October 24, 1871. 
Rev. S. M. Whiting, first regular pastor. 

The First Universalist Society erected a church in 1850, on the 
corner of State and Court streets. Afterward they built a church on 
Orange, above Elm street, called the Church of the Messiah. 

St. Patrick's Roman Catholic parish organized 1850. Their 
church building, corner of Grand and Wallace streets, completed 
and consecrated, 1853. 

Corner stone of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, Ferry street, 
laid May, 1868. 

Charles Goodyear, inventor and discoverer of uses for India 
rubber, born in New Haven, December 29, 1800 , died in New York, 
July I, i860. 



154 ^^^ HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

Leila Day Nursery founded 1883. 

Young Women's Christian Association, incorporated 1882. 

Board of Associated Cliarities organized 1878. 

A memorable evening was that of the 5th of September, 1887, 
when the Board of Aldermen passed a resolution, in which the 
councilmen concurred, on the 12th of the same month. It was this: 

" Resolved, That a special committee, to consist of three aldermen and four 
councilmen, be appointed to consider the expediency of submitting to a vote of 
the people, at the next December election, the propositions whether the old State 
House shall be repaired, or whether it shall be removed, and if removed, what use, 
if any, shall be made of the site ; such committee to submit their report to the 
Court of Common Council on or before the first Mondav in November next." 

The committee was able and conscientious, and November 7 their 
report was read, amended and accepted by the aldermen, and cer- 
tain orders providing for submitting the matter to a vote of the 
people, were passed. The councilmen concurred with the alder- 
men, November 14. Both chambers also accepted the supplemental 
report. The text of both follows : 

Report. 

*' To the Honorable Court of Covwwii Council : 

"Your joint special committee, to whom was referred a resolution, 
charging them with the duty of considering the expediency of sub- 
mitting to a vote of the people, at the approaching December elec- 
tion, certain propositions, to wit: whether the old State House sliall 
be removed from the Green, or whether it shall be repaired ; and if 
removed, what use, if any, shall be made of the site now occupied by 
it — beg leave to report that they have attended to the business 
assigned to them, and have to report as follows : 

" Upon a careful examination of the records of the Court of 
Common Council, during the past five or six years, we find that 
the question of repairing or removing the ' old State House ' 
has been one involving much feeling, and one which has given 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 155 

rise to more heated discussions and exciting wrangles than any 
other subject ever brought to the consideration of a Common 
Council in this city. The community itself has been aroused and 
led into unwonted discord, and is divided into parties, each equally 
earnest with the other in its belief. Committees have been repeat- 
edly appointed by various common councils ; numerous public hear- 
ings, with many heated debates, have followed ; majority and 
minority reports have been submitted to the several appointing 
bodies, all of which have been finally disposed of, either by rejection, 
tabling or indefinite postponement, still leaving the vexed question 
of, What shall be done with the State House .'' apparently as far 
from determination as ever, 

" Meanwhile, the building itself has been growing more and more 
dilapidated and unsightly, and the demand for some definite and 
positive action by the city has necessarily become more imperative. 
In its present condition the property is not only a blot upon the fair 
face of our beautiful Green, but is a ruinous-lookino- disjjrace to the 
city whose possession it is. More than this, it is liable to become 
positively dangerous to life and person from the unloosening of 
some of the bricks or stones used in its construction, which mav 
without warning, fall upon the heads of passers-by, inflicting 
damages for which the city will become liable. At this verv time 
repairs are in progress upon the roof, at the city's expense, the same 
having become necessary, if the building is not to be abandoned to 
utter ruin. The building in its actual condition is of no practical 
value to tlie city, yielding no revenue as against the expense of 
its maintenance, and being put to no valuable use other than the 
occupancy of a small portion of it by the New Haven Colony 
Historical Society. If this were the property of a private individual 
or corporation, ordinary business shrewdness would suggest that 
it be put in thorough repair for practical purposes or altogether 
removed. And shall the Court of Common Council, chosen to 
protect and advance the material prosperity of the city of New 
Haven, refuse or neglect to do, or to provide for the doing of that 



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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. I 57 

which, as business men, we should not postpone for another day ? 
Is it the faithful, conscientious and courageous discharge of official 
obligations to shirk or avoid a responsibility, or to transfer it to our 
successors in office ? 

" After maturely considering the influences prevailing in the com- 
munity and operaiing more or less directly and indirectly upon the 
minds of the people, your committee conclude that any decision of 
this important question by the mere- action of any Court of Common 
Council not chosen with this issue as a paramount one in the elec- 
tion of its several members, would occasion serious popular dissatis- 
faction, whatever might be the action of such Court of Common 
Council in relation thereto ; and furthermore, that such action, with- 
out submission of the question to a popular vote would be much 
more liable to lead to legal complications and contentions than if the 
will of the people were first expressed at the polls. 

" Doubt is expressed by some as to the wisdom of entrusting to 
the people the decision of a question involving interests so impor- 
tant, of whicii, it is hinted, the people are not sufficiently intelligent, 
or competent to judge. In answer to this we would remind object- 
ors that we who owe our official position and powers to the people, 
can scarcely impugn the wisdom of our constituents without reflect- 
ing upon ourselves. To the people are entrusted the highest and 
the most sacred duties in state and nation. If to them may be 
left the selection of our highest rulers and lawgivers, and if upon 
them we rely for the maintenance of all that is dear, valuable and 
desirable in every community, can we not with perfect confidence 
entrust to them the solution of a problem in our own city which 
peculiarly concerns every citizen in New Haven, in that every resi- 
dent, every freeman possesses a life interest in and to the use and 
enjoyment of the Green in accordance with the intent and purpose 
of the original proprietors, who so wisely set this beautiful plot apart 
for the uses and purposes of the people ? 

"Therefore, for the purpose of bringing to a final, and, we trust, to 
a happy conclusion, this long-discussed and vexatious question, and 



158 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

of adjusting it in a manner carrying with it the force and authority 
of the voice of the people, your committee respectfully recommend 
the adoption and enforcement of the following orders. 

"All of which is respectfully submitted. 

"Done at the city of New Haven, this 31st day of October, a. d. 
1887. 

" T. Rice Winchell, ) r^ \ \ \c c ^ 

;\ . ^ ' r On behalf of the 

'* Owen A. CjRoark, ,- .^ , c \\\ 
, . ^ ,. ' V Board of Aldermen. 

"Andrew J. Clerkin, ) 

" Sherwood S. Thompson, ) 
"T. W. Sucher, 1^ On behalf of the 

" William Keane, ( Board of Councilmen." 

" James N. Coe, J 



There followed the formula for the orders necessary to carry out 
the plan for submitting the matter to a vote of the people. The 
committee also made a supplemental report, which follows : 

Supplemental Report. 

" Your committee beg leave to report further, in regard to that 
part of the Resolution referred to them which relates to some con- 
templated use of the site occupied by the present State House, in 
the event of its removal, that in their opinion the site referred to 
would be an admirable one for our Free Public Library with addi- 
tional rooms for the New Haven Colony Historical Society, being 
central in location, very accessible, free from exposure to external 
fires, remote from noise and dust, and affording abundant light. 
Being upon ground under control of the city and originally set apart 
for uses in which all the people are interested, there would appear to 
be nothing repugnant to the original dedication of this spot to public 
purposes, in the occupancy of this site, or any other available portion 
of the Green, b\- a suitable building for the objects mentioned. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 159 

" Your committee, however, do not feel called upon to make any 
special recommendation upon this subject, leaving its consideration 
to the wisdom of the Court of Common Council. 

" Respectfully submitted." 

This supplemental report was signed by all the members of the 
committee. Their reason for making it was that one of the argu- 
ments in favor of repairing the building, was that it would, if 
repaired, be just the thing for the city's free library. 

Those aldermen voting for the report and accompanying orders 
were George D. Watrous, George L. Dickerman, John W. Kenney, 
Robert A. Hollinger, William Noonan, John Clancey, Edward 
Wines, Frank D. Grinnell, Andrew J. Clerkin, Richard M. Sheridan, 
John T. Doyle, James D. Whitmore, J. Rice Winchell, Noyes E. 
Edwards, Hugh Dailey, Charles W. Biakeslee, Jr., Samuel Heming- 
way, Francis S. Hamilton, James E. Connor, Owen E. Groark — 20. 
Those voting against submitting the question to the people were 
Samuel H. Barnes and George B. Martin — 2. The councilmen 
passed the orders unanimously, as amended by the aldermen. 

The people having voted in favor of repair, the aldermen, Decem- 
ber 8, referred to the Board of Finance of the city, certain orders for 
carrying out the expressed will of the people. They took similar 
action regarding the proposed creation of a comm'ission consisting of 
the mayor and auditor, together with two aldermen whose terms 
would not expire prior to December 31, 1888, two councilmen 
elect to serve during the year 1888, and two taxpaying citizens, all 
to be nominated by the mayor and confirmed by the Board of 
Aldermen, who should have charge and supervision on behalf of the 
Common Council, of the work and detail of the repairs. This com- 
mission was to have a clerk, and a tax was to be laid, to raise not 
less tlian thirty thousand dollars, to pay the charges. Before finally 
referring the matter to the Board of Finance, a motion was made that 
the orders lie on the table. This was lost, 16 to 3, only Aldermen 
Martin, Whitmore and John T. Pohlman voting in favor of tabling. 



l6o THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

The councilmen, December 12, concurred with the aldermen. On 
the 1 6th, the aldermen passed the order, creating the State House 
Commission, with the powers and money restriction as already re- 
lated. The councilmen concurred December 19, 1887. This com- 
mission, November 5, 1888, made a long report to the Common 
Council, it coming first before the aldermen. They recited how 
that the people had voted for the " second proposition," which was to 
repair the building for not more than $30,000, and how they (the 
commissioners) had held meetings, heard opinions and after confer- 
ring with the library directors had caused plans to be prepared. 
They had submitted these to competent builders and others and 
found that the total cost of repairs and alterations would be over 
$57,000. Plans on a cheaper scale would not do, but would be false 
economv. If the building were to be repaired, there was no use to 
which it could be put, better than the library. They would go 
ahead, at the figures named, if the Common Council so voted. The 
commission took the opportunity to speak a good word for the New 
Haven Colony Historical Society and the posts of the Grand Army 
of the Republic. Although the estimates called for less than $60,- 
000, still there would be other expenses, perhaps. They therefore 
recommended that $65,000 be appropriated, to be raised by a special 
tax. h. significant sentence in their report, read as follows : 

" Your commission cannot ignore the fact that the large increase 
of cost in repair of the building beyond what was contemplated and 
provided for in the popular vote of December (last) opens the ques- 
tion as to the proper interpretation of the people's will as expressed 
in said vote." [Providing for repairs at a cost of not more than 
$30,000.] 

This report was signed by Hon. Isaac Wolfe, clerk. It was tabled 
for printing. November 12 the councilmen wrestled with it. The 
report, it should be said, mentioned the fact that the $30,000 repair 
proposition had been adopted by the people by a majority of 1,251 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. l6l 

votes, out of an aggregate of 8,689 votes cast. The councilmen fol- 
lowed the aldermen and tabled the report for printing. This gave the 
orators a chance to take breath, and, if they should see fit, to warn 
their friends against all attempt at bribery by promises of re-election 
to office or the exercise of influences to secure memberships in the 
executive boards of the city government. November 15, 1888, the 
aldermen had before them an order empowering the State House 
Commission to repair and alter the State House at a cost not 
exceeding- $65,000. It was also in the order, as a second part of it, 
that when the repairs should be completed, the commission might 
put the building under the control of the directors of the free public 
library, provided also that should the whole building not be needed 
for a library, then the New Haven Historical Society and the Grand 
Army of the Republic might have consideration, should they desire 
to have rooms in the building. The order furthermore provided for 
taxation for the expense of the repairs. Now when the order was 
put upon its passage, Aldermen George L. Dickerman, John W. 
Kenney, Samuel H. Barnes, Charles Kleiner, Andrew J. Clerkin, 
James D. Whitmore, J. Rice Winchell and Charles W. Blakeslee, Jr., 
voted " Yes 1 " Aldermen George D. Watrous, Frank C. Bushnell, 
Richard M. Sheridan, John T. Doyle, Hugh Dailey, Timothy F. 
Callahan, Owen A. Groark and Patrick Kent voted "No!" There 
being a tie vote, the mayor' declared the orders rejected. The 
councilmen also rejected the orders, November 19, 1888. After this 
action, a petition was brought, signed by Joel A. Sperry, Charles 
Henry Townshend, W. B. Goodyear, John S. Fowler, Joseph Porter, 
Edwin A. Smith, James M. Mason and George P. Hooker, taxpayers 
and friends of the library, asking the Common Council to secure the 
removal of the Free Library and Reading Room to the State House 
as soon as possible, and as soon as the repairs could be made. 
They alleged that to erect a suitable building would cost $150,000 or 
$200,000. December 27th it was received and read by the council- 
men, it having been treated in the same manner by the aldermen 
November 22, i< 
II 



1 62 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

The aldermen, December 14th, tabled for printing an order for a 
special elecLion, to be held January 29, 1889, when the freemen were 
to vote on the following : 

"Proposition First. — The State House building shall be removed from the 
Green or Public Square, at the expense of the city, as soon as practicable. 

" Proposition Second. — The State House building shall be repaired by the city 
at an exjiense not to exceed sixty-five thousand dollars, as soon as practicable, and 
shall be put to such uses, under the control and direction of the Court of Common 
Council, as that body may determine and prescribe." 

But November 22d, in the Board of Aldermen, a petition signed by- 
James E. English, R. P. Cowles, B. H. Douglass, Robert S. Ives, A. 
C. Wilcox, Charles Henry Townshend, Thomas Trowbridge, Amos 
J. Beers, Andrew L. Kidston, D. L. Daggett, William K. Townsend, 
Sylvester Smith, I. Burton Hine, John R. Garlock, R. R. Palmiter, 
Benjamin' R. English, H. M. Welch, M. Zunder, George Hotchkiss^ 
G. B. Martin, Justus S. Hotchkiss, W. R. H. Trowbridge, George 
C. Cruttenden, L. O'Brien, O. B. North, Levi Ives, Horace Day, 
Edward R. Hayes, N. W. Merwin, William F. Coburn, W, H. Tuttle, 
and L. J. Sanford was read and received. It asked for an appropria- 
tion of $57,000 and the immediate repair of the State House. No- 
vember 22d in the same body, was read and received a petition signed 
by these friends of a free library: H. B.' Harrison, C. R. Ingersoll, S. 
E. Merwin, Henry G. Lewis, James D. Dewell, E. F. Mersick, F. B. 
Farnsworth, N. D. Sperry, Henry C. White, John T. Sloan, John E. 
Earle, asking the Common Council to appoint a joint committee of 
both boards, to consider and report upon the subject, they believing 
that it was inexpedient to take any action on the proposed repair, for 
the purpose of having the building used for a public free library, 
until further examination of the points involved. They concurred 
with action taken by the councilmen November 19, 1888. They sim- 
ply received it. The aldermen, November 22, 1888, had before them 
the $65,000 order for repairing, and this record is found on page 
285 of their printed journal : 



ThE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 163 

"BOARD OF COUNCILMEN, November 10, 18SS. 

" Ordered, read and passed, the words ' one hundred thousand dollars ' being 
substituted in each instance, where the words ' sixty-five thousand dollars " occur. 

" lioAKiJ OF ALDERMEN, November 22, 1SS8. 

" Order amended by striking out Sioo,ooo and substituting -$65,000 in lieu 
thereof and as amended, j^assed." 

Alderman Walious moved to amend by striking out the first Tues- 
day and inserting in lieu thereof, third Tuesday of December, 1888. 
Amendment lost. The roll-call resulted as follows : 

Yeas — Aldermen Dickerman, Watrous, Bushnell, Kenney, Sheri- 
dan and Daily — 6. 

Nays — Aldermen Clancey, Barnes, Kleiner, Clerkin, Whitmore. 
Winchell, Edwards, Avis, Callahan, Groark and Kent — 11. 

We are now in the thick of the waifare. Citizens were burning 
with enthusiasm for either repair or removal, and the newspapers 
were loaded with communications, some of them absurd in state- 
ments and evidently inspired by an intent to confuse the general 
judgment. Others were pathetic ; a few didactic, and some tinctured 
with plaintive sentiment. 'J1ie interests of the State House and 
library were again hitched together, when December 11, the alder- 
men had before them, an order that the petition of H. B. Harrison, 
Charles R. Ingersoll, and others, should be referred to the State 
House Commission. In the Board of Councilmen, there had been a 
reconsideration of the action taken November 27, and this later 
and substitute order had been passed. Toward the end of the year 
1888, the matter popped up again in the meeting of aldermen and 
there was more tabling; this time for printing. The matter dis- 
cussed was about having a special election by the freemen of the 
city. It provided that should the people decide to pull down the 
building, it should be the duty of the Board of Public Works to 
• attend to it, the tax for expenses not to exceed five thousand dollars. 

In his annual message to the Common Council, delivered January 
31, 1889, Mayor Henry Y. Peck, said : 



164 THE in STORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

" It seems to me that good faith toward our constituents requires that having 
asked for and received a public expression of their will, it should be obeyed. 
And I think also that the building is a valuable one, adapted to many public uses 
and can be put in good condirion for less than the $30,000 which has been voted." 

But after the vote of the Common Council to pull down the 
building, Mayor Peck, though urged to withhold his signature to the 
bill, concluded that he would not defeat the measure, and therefore 
he signed it, thus giving legal effect to the vote. 

It will be pleasant to bring before ourselves a few memory- 
pictures, in which the happy, innoceiit faces and sweet voices 
of New Haven children, aided in a very remarkable way to 
fill with joyousness ihe hearts of thousands of people. The 
anniversary of American Independence was gloriously celebrated 
in this city, July 4, 1858. In the afternoon, was performed on 
the north steps of the State House, a "Juvenile Oratorio of 
the Revolutionary War," under the direction of Prof. Benjamin 
Jepson of this city. The chorus consisted of five hundred chil- 
dren, who arrived nt tiie place in procession, some interesting 
features of iheir parade being the Boston tea party, by a company of 
boys, painted and costumed to represent Indians ; thirty-one misses, 
representing the states of the Union ; Brother Jonathan, wiih bell- 
crowned hat, long, swallow-tailed coat, and short pantaloons of a 
material known as ''drilling"; the Goddess of Liberty, riding in a 
fanciful chariot drawn by a Shetland pony, and escorted by Conti- 
nentals in uniform ; the whole line made brilliant by hundreds of 
flags, banners, and various patriotic emblems and devices suited to 
ihe festival. The New Haven brass band, John Lyon, leader; 
headed the procession, and the Old Gents' Band, Frank Smith, 
leader; accompanied the children's singing. There were short 
addresses by Rev. Dr. Kennedy, John G. North, Esq., and others. 
At the close of the exercises, the children partook of a banquet in 
the basement of the State House, which had been prepared by 
patriotic ladies and gentlemen under direction of Messrs. Thomas 
Rawling and George M. Coe. The concert was enjoyed by about 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 163 - 

twelve thousand people. Many of the boys and girls who took part, 
have since become well known in social life, some of the boys having 
become identified with public affairs or distinguished in various 
honorable positions. Another grand, patriotic celebration, drew to 
the Green thousands of the inhabitants of New Haven, July 4, 186 1. 
About six thousand children, under the management of Professor 
Jepson, were in the line of march. They were gathered upon the 
north steps of the State House, where, under the leadership of their 
teacher, they delighted the people with their singing. The following 
is a transcript from the afternoon program of the citizens' com- 
mittee, John G. North, chairman : 

Program. 

Jepson's Brigade of children will assemble at National Hall, Olive street, 
where they will form into line and proceed up Chapel street, south side, to 
Temple, through Temple to the north side of the Green, to the north portico of 
the State House, in the following order : 

Divis/on o/ Boys. 

Band. 

Hokeepokeewurapechepum Tribe of Indians, representing the 

Boston Tea Party. 

Washington Zouaves. 

Wide Awake Engine Company. 

Marine Guard. 

Washington Lancers. 

Infant Rifles. 

Division 0/ Girls. 

Band. 

Daughters of Columbia. 

Goddess of Liberty, seated on a floral car. 

Young America, with Continental Guard. 

Brother Jonathan, in full costume. 

Union of States, 

represented by thirty-four young ladies. 

Fairy Light Guard. 

All along the line of march, great crowds of people testified by 
cheering and waving of flags and handkerchiefs, their pleasure at the 
spectacle. The exercises consisted of singing patriotic songs by the 
children, accompanied by the band ; stirring addresses by his Excel- 



JE^TA.13LISJHEr> 17 84. 



The John E. Bassett & Co., 



PROPRIETORS 



OF THE 





IN THE 



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CHAPEL ST. 
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STATE ST. 



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SUPPLIES, 

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Goods, &c. 

Our Assortment is Large, Well Selected, 
and offered at the Lowest Prices. 



Kespectfiill^^, 



JOH\ E. BASSETT, 

PRESIDENT. 



OEORfiiE J. BASSETT, 

SECY and TREAS. 



I 68 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

lency, Governor William A. Buckingham, ex-Governor Henry Dutton, 
Daniel C. Gilman, Deacon George F. Smith, and Mr. John G. Norih, 
The exciting events of the war for the Union, having aroused the 
sensibilities of the people, a special interest was felt in these observ- 
ances. Mayor Harmanus M. Welch presided at the exercises. He 
and Professor Jepson, together with the children and speakers, were 
enthusiastically cheered at the close of the afternoon doings. 

The section of the Green, east of Temple street, has been the 
place of many enthusiastic gatherings of children. One of these 
occasions was the twenty-seventh annual meeting of the New Haven 
Sunday-school Union, June 9, 1869. The children assembled by 
divisions, to the number of six thousand, in the various churches 
near the Green. As the schools arrived upon the east part of the 
Green, they were marched past the platform placed nearly opposite 
the front of Center Church, and were drawn up in columns seven or 
eight deep. This manoeuvre took nearly half an hour to accomplish, 
and it appeared as if there was no end to the line which kept pour- 
ing into the Green. The scene was truly most splendid! The 
moving of so many well-dressed children over the greensward to the 
music of the band stationed upon the platform, the beautiful banners 
waving in the sunlight, tlie foliage of the old elms enclosing the 
whole in a majestic framework, made a picture of rare loveliness. 
After all the schools w^ere properly placed, Professor Jepson, under 
whose supervision the songs had been prepared and taught, mounted 
a dais on the platform, and under his directorship the immense 
body of children sang several songs with spirit and line effect. The 
time kept by the children singing in unison, under the handling of 
Professor Jepson's baton, was very remarkable. The procession was 
under control of Jesse Cudworth, Jr., chief-marshal, and these assist- 
ant marshals : Samuel C. Johnson, John G. North, Charles L. Bald- 
win, M. C. Sweezey, and F. W. Pardee. This was a day long to *be 
remembered. 

Without doubt, the grandest spectacular exhibition of children 
which ever aroused public admiration on New Haven Green, was at 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 169 

the time of the great centennial concert, July 4, 1876. Twenty-eight 
hundred children, selected from the public schools, occupied a ter- 
race stage, fifteen seats high, on the south side of the east section of 
the Green, and extending from Church to Temple street. So worthy 
of preservation is an account of this interesting event in the annals 
of New Haven, the reader will like a copy of the program : 

Order of Exercises. 

1 The Glorious Fourth of July. 

Unison Chorus, by all the Schools. 

2 Red, White and Blue. 

Full Chorus, with Solo, by Woolsey School. 

3 Rally Round the Flag. 

Full Chorus, with Solo, by Dwight School. 

4 Union Dixie. 

Full Chorus, with Solo, by Washington School. 

5 Hail Columbia. 

Unison Chorus, by all the Schools. 
Selection^ by the Teutonia M centierchoy . 

6 Watch on the Rhine (.Original Words). 

Full Chorus, with Solo, by Eaton School. 

7 Russian National Hy.mn (Original Words). 

Full Chorus, with Solo, by Webster School. 

8 Beautiful Flag. 

Full Chorus, with Solo, by Skinner School. 

9 My Country, 'tis of Thee. 

Unison Chorus, by all the Schools. 

10 Yankee Doodle. 

Full Chorus, with Solo, by Hamilton School. 

11 Glory, Hallelujah ! (Original Words). 

Full Chorus, with Solo, by Wooster School. 

Selection^ by the Teutonia Mcennerchor. 

12 Star Spangled Banner. 

Full Chorus, w ith Solo, by the Class of '76, and Duet by the Scholars of 
Hillhouse High School. 

13 Old Hundred, with " Praise God from Whom all Blessings flow." 

Grand Chorus, by all the Schools and assembled people. 

The schools assembled under direction of J. D, Whitmore, chief- 
marshal, with the following named principals assisting : High 
School, T. W. T. Curtis ; Webster School, J. G. Lewis ; Eaton 
School, Joseph Gile ; Wooster School, R. H. Park ; Dwight School, 
L. L. Camp : Skinner School, H. C. Davis ; Washington School, 



170 THE HISTORY OF I'HE STATE HOUSE. 

George R. Burton ; Hamilton School, Rev. M. Hart ; Woolsey 
School, Mark Pitman. The children formed near the Hillhouse 
High School and marched at about 2:30 in the afternoon, preceded 
by the Board of Education : the 4th of July committee, and the Ameri- 
can Band, followed by the Pioneer Corps, a youthful company of 
personated aborigines, representing the Boston tea party, who were 
also the Pioneers of the Revolution. Next in line were the Cen- 
tennial Legion, composed of High School boys. They looked finely 
in their unique costumes. Their evolutions and marching were a 
great credit to Captain J. Phile, of the Governor's Foot Guard, who 
had the boys under drill for some weeks. Young ladies of the High 
School, '76 and '77, represented the thirty-eight states of the Union. 
Their dresses were white ; sashes of red, white and blue silk. They 
rode in the wheeled barge " Nightingale," in the front part of which 
was Miss Lee of the High School, who looked charming in her per- 
sonation of the Goddess of Liberty. Then followed a large body of 
High School girls, wearing over their dresses tastefully arranged 
drapery of stars and stripes. The High School was succeeded by 
the pupils of the grammar schools, wearing in about equal propor- 
tions the national colors over their clothing. The schools marched 
in two columns, going on the sidewalk, through Orange to Elm 
street, to Temple street, and on arriving at the stage on the Green 
each school took its allotted position in fine order. As row after row 
of the children took their seats, their varied costumes making a 
pleasing combination of color, it soon became apparent that the 
entire stage, from side to side of the eastern section of the green was 
taking on a resemblance to two American flags, their fields of blue 
joining at the center. At exactly four o'clock, a large balloon 
ascended from the Green, the children manifesting their pleasure at 
the sight. After it passed from view, Professor Jepson took a posi- 
tion in front of the children, his appearance calling out the cheers of 
the people. After a few measures of introduction by the band, the 
opening chorus " Glorious Fourth of July," was sung by the twenty- 
eight hundred children. In this and all the other choruses, the 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 171 

"time ".was as perfect as possible and was very remarkable. The 
harmony of parts and great volume of musical sound will always be 
gratifyingly remembered by all present. People a mile from the 
center of the city, said that the music and words were distinctly 
heard at that distance. To every school, with its hundreds of voices 
was given a solo to be sung in unison. Each school performed its 
solo without fault and all were cheered again and again. A beau- 
tiful feature of the concert was the " conducting " of Yankee Doodle 
by the six-years old son of Professor Jepson, the whole chorus keep- 
ing time to the motion of his little baton. At the conclusion the lad 
was caught up by Mayor Lewis and presented to the enthusiastic 
populace. At intervals in the red, white and blue chorus, the chil- 
dren were trained to interpolate hurrahs, which were given with won- 
derful precision. The enthusiasm reached its highest point when 
each child drew forth a flag and waved it during the singing of the 
" Star Spangled Banner," The Teutonia Maennerchor sang two 
pieces and "were loudly applauded. Brother Jonathan sang a song 
abounding with local hits on the mayor, the celebration committee, 
the conductor, the teachers, and " the jackets we wear," Mayor 
Henry G. Lewis addressed the children, thanking them for the fine 
entertainment, and at his call three rousing cheers were given for 
the conductor. The children reciprocated with cheers for the 
mayor. The finale — " Old Hundred " — closed the exercises. The 
city presented Professor Jepson with some handsomely engrossed 
resolutions, in acknowledgment of his talent, skill and patriotism. 

What does the reader suppose has become of all the jDersons who 
used to amuse themselves by cutting the initial letters of their name 
on the cumbrous, heavy, wood settees which used to stand against the 
walls inside the town hall in the State House basement ? These 
settees were transferred thither from State House No, 2, and had 
begun to disappear before the last State House was destroyed. One 
was taken to the passage leading to the rear door of the town agent's 
ofiice on Church street, and on Fridays was occupied by the poor 
people waiting for aid from the public treasury. The crippled, trem- 



1/2 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

bling wrecks oE humanity have sat for hours on many a cold day, 
waiting for the opening of the iron door, closed between them and 
the selectmen's disbursing clerk, who smoked his cigars and talked 
politics in his warm office. Very many of those unfortunates have 
passed away and are beyond the need of $1.50 a week, with which to 
keep soul and body together. In the returns of the office of vital 
statistics, their deaths are tabulated, and the name is given of the 
disease from which they died. Those returns mislead the statis- 
tician, for they died on account of poverty, with its hunger, expos- 
ures, want of medicine and nursing, and want of human sympathy. 
But the system of what is called "out-door relief" is still a part of 
the policy of the town administration and there are always plenty of 
beneficiaries. One of the old, high-backed wood settees was in the 
basement of the State House, when the work of demolition com- 
menced. Either cut into the wood or written with pencil were 
marks and names. Among them were found "George W. Smith, 
1800"; "Jabez Collins, 1822"; " G. Avery, 1820"; "Frank 
Crosby, 1824"; "Barnard Little, 1824"; "Tom Brown, 1822"; 
" Jonathan W, Nott, 1825 " ; " T. Jess Noyes " ; " A, Harvey, 1814 " ; 
" Holcomb, of Granby " ; " Aaron Tinch," besides a few^ obscure 
marks. The names and dates are suggestive of many bits of local 
history which will perhaps never be written. On the same bench is 
written, " Steamboat question. May 16, 1822, S. P. Staples, one of 
counsel — For S. F, Monson — Smith," Here is a chance for an 
antiquarian to study the local history of the town. 

An incident in connection with holding the courts in the State 
House shows what good men will sometimes do under the pressure 
of temptation. Henry G. Lewis was clerk of the county court. His 
court records were kept in a vault in the basement. Every morning 
the books needed for the day were taken by the clerk to the court- 
room and at the close of business were returned to the vault. Mr. 
Lewis, on opening a book of record one day, discovered to his sur- 
prise, that there had been an erasure of some part of the record, 
without his knowledge. As it appeared to have been the intention 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 1 73 

of whoever made the erasure, to fill the vacant space with something, 
the clerk thought of a plan to detect the forger. He consulted with 
Lyman Bissell, then captain of the watch, and it was decided that 
the latter should enter the vault before its being locked for the day 
and remain there until something should be discovered or the vault 
should be regularly opened the forenoon following. It was a dark 
and lonely vigil kept that night by Captain Bissell. Toward mid- 
night, however, he heard footsteps. A key was put into the lock, 
the door of the vault swung open, and Captain Bissell and the 
unknown confronted each other. The man was one of New Haven's 
respected citizens. He confessed his intention of falsifying the 
record. By advice and after a full consideration of the matter, the 
man was allowed to go free of punishment in State prison. To the 
day of his death. Major Bissell would not tell the name of the man, 
nor will ex-Mayor Lewis. As they and a judge of the court were the 
only persons cognizant of the facts, there is no foundation for a 
"scandal," as is sometimes denominated an exposure of crime. 
There were many exciting episodes in the days when the county 
court was held in the State House, In 1836, there occurred a fracas 
between lawyers Henry C. Flagg and Silas Mix, which resulted 
unpleasantly for both gentlemen. Much feeling was created among 
the friends of the adversaries. One Dr. Goodsell, a witness in a 
case on trial, was charged by Mr. Mix with having talked with 
another witness. Mr. Flagg addressed the court in favor of Dr. 
Goodsell. Mr. Mix, with some vehemence, cried out: "What is all 
this harangue for ? " Mr. Flagg answered that he was vindicating 
Dr. Goodsell. After some warm words had been exchanged between 
the two lawyers, Mr. Flagg, turning to the judge, said : " I will take 
no insolence from this gentleman." Mr, Mix immediately said : 
'You are an insolent puppy ! " Mr. Flagg looked toward the judge. 
His Honor not saying anything, Mr. Flagg said : " I will, then, 
defend myself," and struck Mr. Mix. The client of the latter flew 
to the rescue and was roughly handled by Mr. Flagg. When the 
fuss was over, Mr. Flagg was fined $35, and he and Lawyer Mix 




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and other cities, over the wires of the 
Long Distance Co^niHiny, 
The Public Station will be very shortly equipped with Pri- 
vate Conij^artnients so that conversation may be held with- 
out being overheard or i\\Q jmrties disturbed by the noise 
from street or building. 

Fxperienced Ojjerators are in charge, and the service 
will give very pleasing results. 

Appointments may be made and conversations held, giving all 
the advantage of a personal interview. 

Five minutes conversation may be had with any subscriber in 
the State for 25 cents. 



DAY. NIGHT. 

New York City, $ .75, $ .50. 
Providence, 1.25, .60. 

Philadelphia, 1.75, .90. 

E. B. BAKER, Gen. Supt. 



DAY. NIGHT. 

Boston, $1.50, $ .75 

Worcester, 1 .25, .60 

Springfield, .75, .50 

D. F. BURRITT, Local Mgr. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE, 1 75 

were suspended from practice at the Bar for three months. At 
another time, Charles T. SheUon said to a prisoner whom he had 
been defending : " When I say ' Go ' — go." The lawyer felt certain 
that a verdict of acquittal would be given by the jury and he did not 
want the man to linger around long enough to be again arrested on 
a new complaint. The prisoner heard Mr. Shelton say "Go !" and 
off he started. The sheriff tried to stop him, but Mr. Shelton said : 
•' You cannot do that, because the man is still under bail." Pres- 
ently when the jury returned to the court-room with a verdict of 
"guilty," the prisoner had already departed. Prosecuting attorneys 
in these days look out for such contingencies and are not apt to 
allow prisoners to find out what are the verdicts, at the end of a 
long telegraph wire. 

The liberty pole on the lower part of the Green was erected 
the day before the solemn funeral services, when President Grant 
was buried. Until then there was no liberty pole. The old one had 
a long time before been struck by lightning and the vane was 
knocked off. What became of it nobody knows, except the person 
and those who may have assisted, who carried it away. When the 
pole was reconstructed, the four points of compass were replaced at 
its top. After a while it became dangerous to life on account of 
decay and the Common Council ordered it taken down, together with 
a dilapidated structure called a band stand, which had been an 
unsightly object for some years. From this band stand orators 
in favor of reforms for workingmen used to lecture to the people of 
evenings. Political speakers addressed " fellow citizens " on cam- 
paign issues, and the Good Samaritans held meetings there. When 
x\9X. otherwise occupied, in the daytime children played on its steps 
and platform at the risk of tumbling off and receiving bodily harm. 
Many citizens were desirous of having a liberty pole planted. 
Mayor George F. Holcomb and Auditor John W. Lake took counsel 
together. They went to Hanscom's ship-yard and although it 
appeared that there would not be time to do the work, he agreed to 
have a new liberty pole in position, so that the city's flag could 



176 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

be flown at half mast, the day of President Grant's obsequies. Mr. 
Hanscom made good his promise. Dr. William Hillhouse and a 
number of other citizens wanted the " points of compass " replaced 
at the top of the pole. This was not done, but instead, there was 
placed at the top, what is customarily known as a liberty cap, and 
which is somewhat calculated to bring to mind the horrors of the 
French Revolution. There are some citizens who believe the orna- 
ment is intended to represent the hat of a chief engineer of the 
fire department in the days of the volunteer fire service. This lib- 
erty cap is gilded, and perhaps the gilt should be emblematic of 
the precious character of the principle of which the object is in- 
tended to remind us. The memorial services held Tuesday evening, 
August 4, 1885, in lionor of General Grant, were of a solemn, impres- 
sive character. In seats in the body of the church, two hundred 
members of the Grand Army were accommodated. Also sixty 
members of the Women's Auxiliary Society of the Grand Army 
organization and thirty-five of the Sons of Veterans. Platform 
and reading-desk were appropriately draped. On the platform were 
Governor Harrison, Adjutant-General S. R. Smith, Rev. Newman 
Smyth, D. D., of the Center Church, Rev. D. A. Goodsell, D. D., of 
the First Methodist Church,, and other ministers representing various 
religious creeds, besides Hon. Henry G. Lewis, representing the 
New Haven Chamber of Commerce, and Col. S. J. Fox, representing 
the Grand Army. The choir sung a requiem. Rev. W. H. Buttrick 
prayed. Rev. Dr. W. E. Vibbert of Fair Haven read from the sacred 
Scriptures. An anthem "When in the Earth," was rendered. The 
address of Governor Harrison was in the nature of a noble tribute to 
the patriot soldier. In one part of his address. Governor Harrison 
said : 

"And after all his achievements and his triumphs, it was needful 
that he should suffer calumny, poverty, distress of mind, humiliation 
of spirit and the bitter pains of a lingering death — and therefore all 
these things came upon him — in order that the affections of the 



THE HISTORY J)F THE STATE HOUSE. I 77 

people of the North, and the affections of the people of the South 
might fuse together with fervent heat, and overwhelm him with a 
passionate devotion, so that his character and his work should 
remain henceforth sacred and secure forever. 
" And now, oh Death ! where is thy victory ? " 

Rev. Dr. Newman Smyth and Rev. Dr. Goodsell also spoke. 
They were followed by Hon. Henry G. Lewis. Rev. A. P. Miller 
read the closing hymn, and Rev. Dr. Vibbert gave the benediction. 
The Republican League, Washington Camp of Patriotic Sons of 
America, took suitable action, and throughout the whole city there 
were manifold evidences of the common sorrow. 

When it became known throughout the city that Judge Fenn, 
of the Superior Court, had dissolved the first injunction, which 
restrained the city from taking further steps toward removing the 
State House, there were many sad hearts. When the second 
injunction was dissolved by Judge Carpenter, after the work of 
demolition had been commenced, Mr. Benjamin Noyes, who was in 
the lobby of the court room, was greatly chagrined, but the latter 
attempt, by legal process, to save the building, had been made with- 
out the co-operation of the important members of the Historical 
Society, who had given up the struggle before the second injunction 
was obtained. It is necessary to a full understanding of the matter, 
that there should be briefly told what was done between the ist of 
January and the ist of July, 1889. We find the following in the 
journal of the aldermen, January 7, 1889. 

" Resolved, That all business pending in and unfinished, by the Court of Com- 
mon Council of 1888, be placed in the same status before the Court of Common 
Council of 1889 as it occupied in said Court of Common Council of 1888, at the 
close of the last municipal vear." 

This was adopted and the councilmen concurred. In Mayor 
Peck's message to the two legislative chambers of the city govern- 
ment in joint session, January 31, 1889, occurs these words : 

" The commission not having made the repairs, the building 



178 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

remains in the same condition as before the vote of the people was 
taken, notwithstanding they directed it to be repaired 'as soon as 
practicable.' " 

The following, presented by Alderman Patrick Kent, February 4, 
was adopted : 

"■Resolved^ That the city auditor is hereby requested to have placed upon the 
desk of each member of this board at its next meeting, a printed statement of the 
expenses incurred by the State House Commissfon, since they were appointed." 

February 14, the auditor reported that the expenses had been, for 
C. H. Stillson's plans and specifications $505.05, and for Isaac 
Wolfe, clerk, $300 ; making $805.05. Alderman Morris T. Lynch's 
motion to indefinitely postpone the order for a special election con- 
cerning the State House, prevailed. March 5, a number of orders 
were favorably reported upon, which had been drawn in accordance 
with suggestions in the mayor's message, but here is one order which 
was tabled, nine others being passed : 

" Ordered, That so much of said message as relates to the Old State House, be 
referred to a joint special committee of two aldermen and three councilmen." 

March 12, a petition regarding the reference of State House mat- 
ters to the commission, was tabled by the aldermen. April 15, the 
following was before the same board and tabled for printing : 

" ^YHEREAs, At a city election held December 6, 1887, a majority of registered 

freemen cast their ballots for repair — 
" Whereas, a State House Commission was created — 
" Whereas, the terms of the city officials who were members of the commission 

have expired and said commission has not completed said repairs, it is therefore 

hereby 

" Ordered, That the State House shall be repaired in accordance with the terms 
and conditions of the second proposition. 

" Ordered, That a commission be and is hereby created, to consist of the mayor 
and auditor, together with two aldermen, two councilmen, and two citizens, who 
shall be residents and taxpayers, shall be nominated by the mayor, and confirmed 
by the aldermen, and authorized to complete the repairs at the cost o^ not ov^r 
$30,000," 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. I 79 

As the proceedings in the Board of Aldermen, April 15, are of 
importance in connection with the order finally made, a part of the 
sayings and doings are here given. The following was read : 

" Ordered, that so much of said message as relates to the ' Old State House ' be 
referred to a joint special committee of two aldermen and three councilmen." 

Alderman Kent moved that the order be passed. Alderman 
Frank C. Bushnell amended that the two aldermen be elected by 
this board, and that they be Aldermen McGann and Douglass. 
Alderman Kleiner moved to indefinitely postpone. A vote on this 
resulted in a tie, but the mayor voted in the affirmative, and there- 
fore the motion prevailed. After more motions of one sort and 
another, there was a recess, after which Alderman Bushnell moved 
that the whole matter of the State House question be referred to a 
committee of two aldermen and three councilmen, to consider and 
report. This was adopted. Up rose Alderman Charles Kleiner, to 
a point of order, namely : that this was new business, and therefore 
out of order. The chair decided the point not well taken, and 
Kleiner appealed from the ruling, but the chair was sustained. On 
Alderman Bushnell's motion, it was voted to reconsider the action 
on the order introduced by Alderman Lincoln's order, and this order 
was taken from the table. Alderman Bushnell amended this order, 
that the two aldermen be elected by this board. Being asked to put 
it- in writing, after a recess, he offered a substitute order for an 
order which had been offered bv Alderman Lincoln. Now was 
offered a motion which was adopted ; that the whole State House 
question be referred to a committee of two aldermen and three 
councilmen, to consider and report. Alderman Charles Kleiner 
said that this being new business it was out of order. The chair 
decided the point not well taken. Mr. Kleiner appealed from the 
decision, the chair being sustained thirteen votes to ten. The vote 
for Alderman Bushnell's motion was sixteen in favor to seven 
against. He now moved that the committee of two aldermen and 
three councilmen to be raised, be instructed to vote for the removal 



l8o THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

of the Stale House. This was seconded. Alderman Samuel R. 
Avis amended that the committee be instructed to vote in favor of 
repair. One alderman made the point of order that this action was 
out of order and wouldn't do at all. The chair so ruled. Alderman 
Morris T. Lynch moved that his Honor, the Mayor, and Aldermen 
Bushnell and McGann be appointed a committee to be raised as 
proposed by Alderman Bushnell's resolution. This was seconded. 
Alderman Sheehan amended that the committee be appointed by 
the mayor. This was so voted. How the city fathers did wrestle 
with the thing, to be sure ! 

At a meeting May 6, a long report was presented to the board, 
which may have had a more or less remote influence over their 
action regarding the State House. This report, signed by C. E. 
Prince, William A. Chamberlin, and George W. Bromley, was tabled 
for printing. It was in favor of allowing the First Ecclesiastical 
Society [which is the society of the Center Church] to erect an 
addition to the rear of the Center Church. The report contained 
this: "The addition besides being adorned with tablets descriptive 
of historical events, will have placed in two niches, statues of Daven- 
port and Eaton. The architectural beauty of the addition can be 
readily seen," etc. " The entire cost is estimated from $25,000 to 
$30,000. ... It will be not only worthy of the events and men it 
commemorates but will be an ornament to our Green." With the 
report was submitted the following : 

" Permission is hereby given to the First Ecclesiastical Society of New Haven 
to erect on the rear of their church edifice a memorial structure not to extend 
over ten feet in depth and eighteen feet in width, the final plans to be submitted 
to the committee on squares for their approval, and work on said structure to be 
commenced during the year 1889." 

On the 2oth of May, this report and proposed permission were 
recommitted to the committee, in concurrence with action taken 
bv the councilmen. At the session of May 20, the aldermen voted 
for having a committee to report upon the expediency of having band 
concerts on the Green. The couwcilmen had already so voted. The 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. l8l 

committee found that it was not best to have the concerts. The 
following was adopted by both chambers of the Common Council. 

'' Resolved, That the Corporation Counsel be requested to consider and report to 
the Court of Common Council, whether in his opinion, the City of New Haven 
has any such title to, or interest in the ground occupied by the Old State House, 
that it can legally sequester or appropriate such ground to city uses, and whether 
the Court of Common Council can legally lay a tax for the reconstruction or 
repair of said building, in order to establish it as a permanent incumbrance upon 
the public square as a city building, in derogation of the general public use to 
which such square was originally, forever dedicated." 

This history of official transactions in connection with the State 
House is drawing to a close. As the final report made to the Com- 
mon Council was the matter upon which was based the order to pull 
down the building, it is here given in full, together with the action 
taken and the date of such action in the two Boards of the Court of 
Common Council : 

Report. 

" 2^0 the Honorable Court of Couwioii Council of the City of New 
Haven : 

"Your committee, to whom was referred the Old State Hoi se 
question, beg leave to report that they have attended to the business 
assigned and make the following report : 

"In order to ascertain in what manner the facts upon which the 
Committee appointed by your Honorable Body in 1885 made its 
report, were obtained, a sub-committee of this committee called upon 
the two Hartford builders who made an estimate of $23,000 for the 
repair of the State House, the estimate which his Honor, Mayor 
Peck, referred to in his message, and learned that these builders « 
went over the State House with Professor Trowbridge and several 
others. These builders stated they were not asked what repairs 
ought, in their opinion, to be made, but were told that it was pro- 
posed to make certain repairs and were asked to make estimates of 
the cost of such repairs. They were told that it was not proposed to 



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THE HISTOID Y OF THE STATE HOUSE. 1 83 

make any repairs on the inside, but only to make such cheap, neces- 
sary exterior and other repairs as would make the building good for 
fifteen or twenty years. These builders thereupon made estimates 
only on such repairs as were pointed out to them. No plans or 
specifications were made, but only a rough estimate made in pencil, 
on the spot, after a brief and hurried examination of the building. 
The figures w^ere a mere estimate and not a bid. An examination 
of the estimate reveals the cheap, unsatisfactory, and inadequate 
character of the repairs proposed. It strips off all the marble facing 
of the building and in its place puts nothing but brick, thus destroy^ 
ing the architectural effect of the building and making it, in compar- 
ison, a cheap looking affair. It repairs the stone steps at the north 
end by using the old stone in the steps at the south end. These 
stones, as is well known, are small in size and of crumbling marble, 
taken originally from the top of a quarry, so that the steps at the 
north end must have a patched up and make-shift appearance. It 
proposes to build the south steps anew, but of what kind and size of 
stone it is not stated, and when it is known that these steps cannot 
be built of soft Ohio stone for less than $6,000, it can be seen that 
the estimate of this committee of $2,700 is very inadequate, unless 
the steps are very inferior, both in construction and material. It 
proposes to patch the stucco work where broken. It does not pro- 
pose to paint the whole work, but to leave it in such shape that the 
patches will show. These builders stated that these repairs were 
much less than required to fit the building for permanent occupancy, 
and they further stated that even these repairs could not be made 
now for what was then estimated, as material and labor are higher 
now than then, and the building is still more dilapidated now than 
when these estimates were given. 

"This then is the new exterior under this estimate. The building 
altered and cheapened in its appearance by being stripped of all its 
marble facing, old and cheap crumbling marble steps on the north 
end, steps of some other kind of cheap stone on ihe south end, a 
building covered here and there with big blotches of patched stucco 



1 84 "^HE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

work and very little clone to fit the building to be occupied. And 
this a public building to stand for a century to come, in a conspicu- 
ous position in the centre of the city, in a city of 80,000 inhabitants 
and a grand list of $50,000,000. Such repairs would be a deception 
and fraud and a reproach to the fair name of this city. 

"A letter was received by the commission from Mr, George M. 
Grant, in which he offered to repair the building at a less sum than 
the amount of the bids, but the repairs proposed were essentially of 
the same nature as the repairs proposed in the estimate of $23,000. 
The commission thought the repairs as proposed by Mr. Grant were 
entirely inadequate and insufficient to put the building in proper con- 
dition for occupancy, and the bid was unanimously rejected by 
the commission. 

" Your committee also examined the doings of the commission of 
1888, and from a careful examination of the records made by the 
clerk of said commission, they report as follows : 

" They find that it was fairly and impartially constituted, consisting 
of the mayor, auditor, three aldermen, three councilmen, and three 
citizens, and all shades of opinion Avere fairly represented. This 
commission considered the question as to what kind of repairs 
should be made on this building, fully and thoroughly, and they 
made a thorough and reliable estimate of the cost. They first asked 
the question : ' What repairs are necessary to fit this building for 
permanent occupancy and give it a respectable external appear- 
ance ? ' To answer this question they examined the building from 
top to bottom with an architect and the auditor, who has had much 
experience in such matters and whose business it is to look after the 
city buildings. A list of repairs that it was necessary to make was 
finally presented to this commission. This commission carefully 
went over this list of repairs in detail, and they unanimously agreed 
that all the repairs named in the list were necessary and that none of 
them could be dispensed with. Those who favored repairs were 
ably represented in this commission by Mr. T. R. Trowbridge and 
others, and they all to a man agreed that all the repairs as called for 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 1R5 

should be made. A sub-committee consisting of Mr. Trowbridge 
and two others was then appointed to procure plans and specifica- 
tions of the repairs agreed upon, so that they could be submitted to 
builders for estimates. When prepared, these plans and specifica- 
tions were submitted to builders and bona fide bids obtained. And 
in accordance with these bids the commission unanimously reported 
to the Court of Common Council that an appropriation of ^65,000 
was required for needed repairs. But it may be said that these plans 
were made with reference to a library and that part of this expense 
should be put down to library appropriation. It is true that in draw- 
ing these plans a library was had in view, but the architect was 
especially instructed and did not put more repairs on for a library 
than would be necessary to fit the building for occupancy for any 
other use. The Hartford builders and the New Haven architects all 
agree that such is the fact, and that if either story was fitted for a 
public hall the expense would be still greater. 

"Your committee further submitted these plans and specifications 
to several architects in this city, all of whom gave their written opin- 
ion that the repairs mentioned therein were not more than were 
actually needed to put the building in proper condition for public 
use of any kind, and that the above estimate of $65,000 was a fair 
and reasonable one. These architects also examined the estimate of 
the commission of 1885, and were unanimous and emphatic in their 
opinioa that the repairs mentioned therein were entirely insufficient 
to put the building in proper condition. 

" Tn view of all these facts your committee have come to the con- 
clusion that the old State House cannot be repaired for $30,000. 
Your committee do not see how^ it is possible to get more accurate 
and trustw^orthy estimates of repairs than that made by the commis- 
sion of 1887. Any new estimates to be honest and reliable can only 
go over the same ground again. 

"It being clearly settled that the building cannot be repaired for 
$30,000 it becomes an important question what is the duty of your 
Honorable Body in the premises. 



1 86 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

"The proposition voted for by the people in December, 1887, was 
in the words following : 

Proposition Second. — The State House building shall be repaired by the city, 
at an expense not to exceed $30,000, as soon as practicable, and shall be put to 
such uses, under the control and direction of the Court of Common Council, as 
that body may determine and prescribe. 

" Now interpreting this vote by those principles of common sense 
which govern people in such matters, this vote in effect said : If this 
building can be put in good condition and fitted for public use for a 
sum not exceeding $30,000, we vote to have it done. It did not say : 
In voting to repair the building at a sum not exceeding $30,000 we 
mean repair it regardless of cost, even if it be double or triple that 
sum ; nor did the vote say : in voting to repair at a cost not exceed- 
ing $30,000 we mean spend $30,000 on it as an entering wedge, no 
matter if that does not half repair it for use, no matter if $30,000 or 
$40,000 more must be added to it. 

" It would be paying a disrespect to the honesty and intelligence of 
the people to suppose that was their meaning, or to suppose that the 
limitation of $30,000 was put in the vote as a deception and fraud. 

" Now when it is ascertained that the building cannot be repaired 
for $30,000, the vote of the people becomes inapplicable and mean- 
ingless, for the condition on which the vote was based is found to be 
wanting. The question, therefore, comes before your Honorable 
Body as if the vote had never been taken, and the following two 
courses are left open to us : ist, to submit the vote again to the 
people under the new state of facts, which has been found ; or 2d, to 
decide the question ourselves upon its merits, upon the facts as now 
found. 

" After this one experiment of submitting a question to the people, 
which it is the duty and business of your Honorable Body to decide, 
we think it the general sentiment, both in the Court of Common 
Council and among the people, that the experiment should not be 
repeated. We think therefore the question should be decided by the 
Court of Common Council. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 1 87 

" In conclusion, we beg leave to summarize the following points : 

" I. The estimate of $23,000, referred to in the Mayor's message, is 
found to be entirely inadequate and unreliable from the testimony of 
the builders themselves, owing to the peculiar circumstances under 
which the estimate was made. In this view, two of the leading 
architects of the city, who have been consulted, emphatically concur. 
An examination of the estimate, even by a non-expert, reveals the 
superficial and insufficient nature of the repairs proposed. 

" 2. It is the unanimous opinion of all the builders who made the 
estimate of $23,000, and architects whom we have consulted, that in 
case the city desires to have a building on the Green or elsewhere, 
either for a library or a public hall, public offices, or any other use, it 
would be economical in the long run to tear down the present build- 
ing and erect a new one in its place, and to this they add the fact 
that a new building could be made much more suitable and con 
venient for the purposes designed. 

"3. The commission created by the Court of Common Council in 
December, 1887, to have charge and supervision in the matter of 
repairs, and to consider the public uses to which the building might 
be put, unanimously reported that an appropriation of $65,000 was 
required for repairs, and that any plan or system of repairs less thor- 
ough and complete w^ould be inadequate to the purpose designed, 
and discreditable to the city, and it is thus made evident that the 
building cannot be repaired without an utter disregard of the 
expressed will of the people limiting the cost thereof. Certainly the 
Court of Common Council would not be justified in spending in 
excess of the limit expressly fixed by the people. Neither w^ould it 
be justified in spending the $30,000, unless that expenditure accom- 
plished the object for which repairs are to be made. 

"4. It is difficult to overestimate the value of a public Green situ- 
ated as ours is in the very heart of a large and growing city. Such 
a park contributes to the beauty, the reputation and even the wealth 
of the community, and it should be sacredly preserved, as far as pos- 
sible, as an open space for the use of the whole people, for their 



I S3 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

health, their enjoyment, and their recreation. A number of years 
ago the city government, together with Hberal minded citizens, con- 
tributed thousands of dollars for the removal of an old church from 
the upper part of tiie Green, thus adding largely to its area and 
beauty. Shall we be less wise and less liberal minded in these mat- 
ters than those who have gone before us ? A rare opportunity is 
given to the Court of Common Council of 1889 again to make an 
invaluable addition to the area and beauty of the Green by removing 
an old and dilapidated building, unfitted for any modern use, 
deserted by its original owners, and given up to the city. By such 
action we shall deserve, and shall in the end doubtless receive, the 
gratitude of the city, not only for the present but for all time. 

"In view of all- the facts in the case, your committee recommend 
the passage of the following order : 

'* Ordered, That the old State House building be removed from the public Green, 
and that the Auditor is hereby authorized and directed to advertise for bids for 
the taking down and complete removal of said building from the Green ; and in 
the event of there being no acceptable bids the Auditor of the city is hereby 
empowered and directed to contract for the taking down and removal of said 
building on such terms and conditions as may appear for the best interests of the 
city." 

" All of which is respectfully submitted. 

*• James E. McGann, 
'' Chas. H. Wardell, 
" D. T. McNamara, 
" Harry W. Asher." 
Board of Aldermen, June 3, 1889. 

Report accepted and order passed. 
Board of Councilmen, June 7, 1889. 
Concurred. 

After a wild night of uproarious storm in midwinter, when through 
the dark hours, the steeple of the old Center Church has swayed and 
creaked and groaned as if in disapproval of the strong fierce blasts 



THE HISTORY OF THE ST A TE HOUSE. 189 

which threatened to hurl it from its monumental station, the pensile 
boughs of the old elms on the Green, covered with a glaze of ice 
and lighted by the morning sun, brilliantly gleam with vivid light 
and splendor, as of the radiance of polished steel and silver. Pris- 
matic colors' flash and play as amid the spray of fountains. As the 
wind moves them, the tree-tops let fall glittering bits of diamond-like 
splinters which drop at intervals in showers, and as the warmth 
increases, water-drops trickle downward from each spray and twig, 
increasing the wonderful beauty which dazzles the eye, and fills the 
soul WMth unwonted admiration. As day advances, hundreds of 
delighted children, laughingly calling to each other, in irrepressible 
and infantile pleasure, hurry with their vari-colored sleds to the 
sloping bank at the north end of the State House. Some of the 
more venturesome coax and encourage the less brave of their play- 
fellows, to make the perilous descent from the platform at the head 
of the State House steps, their sleds going down with a rush which 
makes them hold their breath. Far away, at the bottom of the 
incline, with gleeful cries and much shouting, the youngsters glide 
swiftly over the places where but a few feet underground lie the 
bones of their puritanic ancestors, the youthful life above and the 
tranquillity of death beneath having, if the children could know, a 
strange, mysterious relationship. But the children have no thought 
of care at such a time as this ! What for them is the sorrow that 
has passed or the brightness of days to come ! All the more 
delightful is this present scene, for the reason that it cannot be 
enjoyed at every Christmas season, and that to some of the little 
men and w^omen there can come but once in a lifetime, such a 
jocund experience. Upward, over the slippery State House steps, 
struggle the small actors in this day's fun, the big boys carefully 
holding their little sisters' hands. And then, oh joy ! the thrill of 
the quick descent and the rapid gliding into and out of the shadow 
of the North Church and so on, around and around again, until eyes 
sparkle and roseate cheeks are flushed with healthy blood. The 
fallen icicles scattered thickly under the big trees, furnish ample 



190 JTHE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

and innocent refreshment for the thirsty ones. Boys toil like 
heroes of knighthood, bearing burdens of snow-crust which they 
place w^here needed to improve the slide, and among the frailer 
sleds, each wiih its fancifully lettered name, gangs of daring young 
chaps guide the dreadful double-ripper, loaded for the most part, with 
frightened girls. How rare such days and such sport, on New Haven 
Green ! How long to be cherished among the pleasantest of child- 
ish recollections ! Soon will the winter with its mirth be past, and 
the rattle and clatter of the corporation lawn-mower will succeed the 
gladsome music which fills the crystalline air. And the unambitious 
driver of the sleepy old horse attached to the noisy machine, cares 
not, as he puffs his short clay pipe, what sort of fairyland the Green 
has ever been or ever will be, his only earthly hope depending upon 
the city's estimate of the value of a day's work and of the necessity of 
paying for it promptly. Darkly in contrast to such pictures of peace 
are those which depict the hasty gathering of armed men on the 
Green, their brows scowling with hatred and their faces white with 
fear, as they consult together upon the safest and most expeditious 
ways for exterminating by sword and bullet, King Philip's fated 
warriors. The town was fortified in 1675 against a possible invasion 
by these wretched Indian savages, who never dreamed of such a 
matter as " justification by faith." 

Citizens who conscientiously voted to have the State House 
repaired, because they believed that money spent in the work would 
be well invested, will be alike interested with those who voted for its 
removal on the ground that it could not be made safe and suitable 
for any public use, in learning from a competent witness something 
about its construction. A. M. Holmes, the house mover, whose 
years of experience in pulling down old buildings, give weight and 
value to his observations, says : ''The roof, which appeared slightly 
built, with small rafters and cross timbers, was so stayed and 
strengthened, that the roof was the strongest one I ever saw." Mr. 
Holmes successfully pulled down the columns at both ends of the 
building and had the best opportunity for examination. He gave it 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE, 191 

as his opinion, that the columns were as strong as lime, bricks and 
sand could make them — much stronger when torn down, than any 
mason-work of the present day. The walls, from foundation to 
plate, were made largely of chips of stone, held together with lime — 
a large proportion of lime with some binding-stones. The lime 
being of superior quality, the walls were hard and with a good 
foundation ; the walls from the first floor upward were strong enough 
to stand for ages, with the exception of one section, on the west side, 
about midway of the building, and for a width of about twenty-five 
feet and as high as the second floor, where there was an appearance 
of an absence of lime. The basement walls on both sides, were 
badly weakened by continued dampness, caused by water freely 
running behind the marble veneering, there not being a sufficient 
water-shed. The end walls of the basement were rotten. At the 
north end, the basement wall crumbled and fell on account of the 
strain in pulling over, by sections, the upper portion of the wall. 
The life of the mortar had departed. The foundation for the steps 
was simply a cob-house, and it is a wonder that they were supported 
in position, considering the character of the substructure. " It is 
evident," said Mr. Holmes, "that with a proper water-shed and 
sufficient ventilation, the rotten walls would have remained sound 
and the building would have stood many years, notwithstanding that 
owing to a poor foundation, especially under the north and east 
walls, the building had badly settled, causing large cracks in the 
north end and on the east side, some of which were plainly seen, 
while others were closed by filling them with material at different 
times. The timbers were generally sound." Sidney Adolphus 
Thomas, who for a number of years kept a private school for boys 
at the corner of Olive and Wooster streets, in frequently impressing 
upon the mind of his pupils the importance of building on sure 
foundations their superstructure of knowledge, as potent in the 
formation of character, or pursuit of wealth, or anything desirable, 
used to tell them that wdthout the solid foundation they would fail, 
and like the State House, have no endurance. 



192 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

A large book would be needed in which to tell of all the remark- 
able things which were done in the basement of the State House. 
On occasions of holding agricultural and horticultural fairs in the 
building, the more ponderous productions of the vegetable kmgdom 
were displa3^ed upon the basement floor of the town hall. Big 
melons, abnormally large beets, turnips and potatoes were there 
inspected and admired, and pumpkins, big enough for Cinderella's 
golden coach, were always principal features of the display. On the 
main floor, in the hall above, were arranged long tables covered with 
white cloth, on which were displayed and classified all sorts of fruits 
— grapes, apples, pears — and beautiful collections of flowers, the 
superb and stately dahlias, at one time extensively cultivated in New 
Haven gardens, contributing much to the beauty of the exhibition. 
As a successful cultivator of those flowers, Mr. James Craig, a 
Scotchman, for some years was awarded prizes annually. On the 
floor of the main hall and in the different rooms, were arranged the 
displays of needlework, from bed-quilts to lace collars and specimens 
of knitting and all sorts of fancy work. The railing around the 
circular opening in the floor of the legislative halls, was adorned 
with evergreen shrubs and trees, and behind these were stationed 
the brass band and the quartette or perhaps quintette of singers. 
The exhibitions are among the pleasantest things in the memory of 
people about sixty years old. They were patronized by almost 
everybody, and one or more enchanted evenings " at the fair" fur- 
nished the occasion for some of the most delightful recollections of a 
season of courtship by young people. When the eye grew tired with 
viewing the lovely and interesting objects in the upper hall, it was 
always a relief to descend to the more dimly-lighted and cool base- 
ment, where the crowed was less dense and the opportunity for saying 
tender things and paying compliments was better. Many a New 
Haven matron and mother of a happy family, will perhaps remember 
what was said as she pensively contemplated seme monstrous speci- 
men of ruta baga or the broad disk of a tremendously large sun- 
flower. Forty odd years ago these annual fairs at the State House, 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 1 93 

served not only to bring all the people together in agreeable social 
converse ; they tended to develop the garden and the cultivation 
of fruits and flowers which has long been declining here. hX. the 
outset of these assemblies, the competitors for prizes were not pro- 
fessional cultivators, but in a few years, the persons who made 
gardening a trade and those who only bought and sold flowers 
learned to take the most prizes, and the general interest in the fairs 
gradually expired. The late Stephen D. Pardee was at one time an 
enthusiastic cultivator of fruit, his contributions to the fairs being of 
great excellence. The daughters of Elbridge Gerry, from their large 
garden on Temple street, sent lovelv flowers of their own tending. 
Dr. V, M. Dow was another contributor whose love for gardening 
was very catching. From these annual fairs grew the weekly or 
monthly exhibitions of fruit and flowers, at some convenient store on 
Chapel street, C. B. Whittlesey's drug store being frequently chosen 
as the place for these shows. For a love of strawberry cultivation, 
the people were considerably indebted to Charles B. Lines, who first 
made known the superiority of the Hovey seedling. As the demand 
for land for building purposes has increased, and as year by year, 
large gardens have been built over and real estate dealers and town 
assessors have learned to put an exact money value on every inch of 
ground where a rose bush might flourish, New Haven gardens have 
lost much of their attractiveness. When the crimson, palatable to- 
matoes were first cultivated in New Haven, they were named "love 
apples " and were grown for their beauty rather than for the table. 
Whovever ate them had to take lessons in getting used to them and 
the modern tomato seems to have little of the original flavor. A 
few years ago, the Michigan board of health sent an enquiry to 
the New Haven board, as to whether tomatoes were found to be one 
cause of cancer. The question was considered by the New Haven 
board as preposterous. The yellow tomatoes, forty years ago, to be 
found on sale with other vegetables, appear to have disappeared 
from market. In rear of the old Capt. Ben. Beecher homestead, on 
Chapel, below York street, there used to flourish a famous pear tree 
13 



194 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

of great age, each pear in good seasons, weighing one pound. From 
the back door of Captain Hoadley's house, which was on State 
street at the foot of Grove, there was a grape arbor reaching to Olive 
street, and to walk in its shade in autumn and see the ripened grapes 
was a great pleasure. When the land was cut to make a path for 
the Hartford and New Haven Railroad, the arbor was ruined. It 
appears to be a settled principle that all purely domestic advantages 
must give way before the requirements of business, and New Haven 
gardens are only following the rule. Yet, old people cannot but 
lament the loss of such gardens as was that of Titus Street, which 
extended from his house on Elm street, through to Court street, and 
the large garden formerly in rear of Miss Seeley's school, which 
covered an extensive plot of land in the rear of the house on Chapel, 
below Union street. 

But there have been heard in the basement hall and all the base- 
ment rooms of the State House, other sounds than of instruments 
and singing. Loud outcries of insane rage-^ugly oaths and ribald 
jests have disturbed the sensibilities of people whose avocations led 
them to the vicinity. For a part of the basement was once occupied 
by the police force of the city as a headquarters and lockup. Cap- 
tain John C. Hayden was head of the police from July i, 1855, until 
June 4, 1857. Jonathan W. Pond was chief of police from June 27, 
1861, until July 16, i8(' t, and these two chiefs had headquarters in 
the basement. The lockup was moved to the new City Hall on 
Church street after the completion of that building in October, 1862. 
The police office und'-r the State House had its front entrance facing 
College street, and the prisoners were confined in a room, one side of 
the upper part of wnich, for ventilation and light, was built of a stout 
lattice of wood bars. When the lockup was in the county jail, where 
the City Hall now sUi -'s, there was much dissatisfaction felt by the 
policemen, because, as the law then stood, prisoners arrested by them 
were taxed the costs connected with the arrests, and the deputy 
sheriffs and constables pocketed the fees. There was so much bad 
feeling engendered that the deputy sheriffs finally agreed to give the 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 1 95 

policemen half of the fees paid for making the arrests. In these 
days the policemen are not paid court fees. The State House base- 
ment was always damp and unhealthy and Mr. Pond attributes a 
rheumatism which has troubled him for years, to the unsanitary 
condition of the police headquarters when there. It was in tiie base- 
ment that Gen. Alfred H. Terry, the " Hero of Fort Fisher," spent 
much of his time, when his father held the ouice of town clerk and 
kept the town records there. The entrance to the Probate "court" 
was the first doorway on the east side of the basement, toward the 
south end of the building. Judge Hinman was thought eccentric in 
some of his ideas, and harsh judgment was passed upon him by 
those citizens who guessed at what manner of man he was by his 
dress and deportment. In a political lampoon which had great popu- 
larity and entitled "The Menagerie," Mr. Hinman is mentioned as 
" Dandy Jack," a monkey. Copies of this interesting and amusing 
production are yet in the possession of some of our older citizens. 
Its authorship was kept a profound secret, but was ascribed to 
a number of different persons. As Philip S. Galpin was somewhat 
waggish, he was thought to have had a hand in its composition. 
Mr. Hinman is said by those who knew him most intimately, to have 
been a man of very kindly and generous traits of character, all the 
prejudice against him having grown out of some peculiarities of his 
dress. He wore a blue dress coat with gilt buttons, a tall, white 
hat and light-colored pants, and was so particular about the fashion 
of his clothes that he cut his own vests and other garments, all of 
which had a style not recognizable on any of the fashion plates of 
his day. When he died, the Freemasons went in a body to his 
funeral, which was largely attended. Over the door of entrance to 
his court, was painted in letters several inches high, the word : 
" Probate." One day a friend called at the court room, and after an 
exchange of greetings Judge Hinman said : " ^^'hy, I wonder, do 
people look at my office door and then laugh ? For about a week 
I've noticed that as they pass my door they behave like fools. Is 
there anvthing wrong about me ? " He had been in and out of his 



196 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

doorway a number of times every clay for a week but had not noticed 
that somebody had painted as a prefix to his sign, the letters " re"' 
so that it read " reprobate.'' After a time the extra letters were 
scraped off the marble, but their outline could be seen for years. 

In the early days of the State House there were many leading 
minds among New Haven's freemen, and at every town meeting 
there were exhibitions of temper and strong individuality of char- 
acter, such as in these days are nev^er encountered. One of the best 
living representatives of the typical toun meeting attendant sixty 
years ago, is Mr. George Hotchkiss, 2d, who speaks right out, when- 
ever the school district has a public meeting to lay a tax for the 
support of public education. A prominent freeman of this typical 
character, was Dr. Booth, of the wholesale drug and varnish firm of 
Booth & Bromham. When, at one of the town meetings, the ques- 
tion of allowing the introduction of water into the city, by means of 
distributing mains, was under discussion, Mr. Booth argued against 
the improvement. He is reported as having energetically opposed 
the project and saying, in the course of his remarks : "They tell us, 
Mr. Chairman, that we need this water for bathing purposes. Let the 
' char ' look at me. What do I want to bathe for? I never bathed 
in my life." The speech amused his fellow townsmen, because Mr. 
Booth was rather corpulent and to all appearance in the best of 
health, though not over-nice in regard to his personal appearance. 
It was on a motion of Henry G. Lewis at one of these town meetings 
that the first order was passed to have the road between New Haven 
and Fair Haven covered with oyster shells. Much of the time at the 
annual town meetings was taken up in passing votes affecting the 
interest of oystermen. It was in the basement of the State House 
that collations were spread on long tables, for the refreshment of 
soldiers on their return from the battle-fields of the South and there 
were many occasions of the kind, when Mayor Tyler and others 
made eloquent and patriotic addresses, which revealed the fact that 
the friends at home had been kept well informed of the deeds of 
each of the Connecticut regiments. Some of these receptions were 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. tg^ 

given in Music Hall on Crown street, the stores of the ground floor 
being convenient for the purpose. The building, erected by Mr. 
Samuel Peck, was opened November 19, i860, with a promenade 
concert by the New York Philharmonic society. It was for some 
years known as the Grand Opera House, and was owned by Mr. 
Clark Peck, who in 1884 leased it to Manager G. B. Bunnell, who still 
has a lease of it. The doors of the State House basement were for 
years often to be found open all night and before the tramp became 
a legally recognized nistitution for whose benefit the commonwealth 
has made special provision in the State's prison, he found shelter 
from the demoralizing cold and night air, either under the arches 
supporting the steps or in one of the rooms, or in some shadowy 
recess of the mouldy-smelling basement. 

With a great rush, thousands of people hastened to the Green, April 
23, 1852, to see and hear the famous Hungarian patriot, Kossuth, 
whose mission to this country in behalf of fallen nobility, aroused 
the sympathies of the entire population of the United States. Gov- 
ernor Kossuth, accompanied by his wife and Madame Pulsky and 
several gentlemen of a Massachusetts committee, arrived hither from 
New York, in charge of a delegation of New Haven men who had 
been sent to meet him. He was received at the railroad station, by 
Mayor Aaron N. Skinner, the aldermen and councilmen, and a com- 
mittee of citizens, and by Governor Baldwin, Lieutenant-Governor 
Kendrick, Ralph I. Ingersoll, Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon, Rev. S. 
Dryden Phelps and others and was escorted to the south portico of 
the State House, where arrangements had been made for him to 
address the multitude of people assembled to see the illustrious man. 
The National Blues assisted in keeping order. The bells of the 
churches were ringing, and cannons were fired in testimony of New 
Haven's welcome. On arriving at the State House, Kossuth was 
saluted by the Blues, Captain Quinn. A reception speech was made 
by Mayor Skinner, and the Magyar-General spoke in reply for forty 
minutes. Hundreds of young men present, wore on their heads 
black, soft, felt hats, in the bands of which were stuck a small black 



3L_ 13:. JOI3:I^TS03iT, 

Fi^ectical Moi^se Sheep, 



51 WHALLEY AVENUE. 




NONE BUT COMPETENT WORKMEN EMPLOYED. 



PERSONAL SUPERVISION OF ALL WORK. 



Horses called for and delivered in any part of the City, and sat- 
isfaction guaranteed. 

BI?,^^lSrCH: 1T9 G-EOI^&E ST. 

H. H. JOHNSON, Business Manager. 



Telex>lioiie Connections. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 199 

feather as worn by the city's guest, and for years this sort of hat 
went by the name of Kossuth, and was worn by nearly all young men, 
some of whom also wore the feather. After finishing his address 
General Kossuth was received by a committee of the Yale Faculty 
and conducted to the Trumbull gallery of paintings, in a small 
building on the Yale campus, and now occupied by President Timothy 
Dwight and the financial officers of the university. He was intro- 
duced to Prof. Denison Olmsted and was received in a social way 
by Professor Silliman, in presence of only members of the college 
faculty and ladies of their families, together with a few ministers and 
selected citizens. He was here introduced to some gentlemen of 
Whitney ville, and left the college grounds to receive a present of 
rifles from the workmen at the Whitney Arms Factory. On arriving 
at W^ntneyville, a salute was fired from the top of East Rock. On a 
bridge, connecting two buildings of the Whitney manufactory were 
ranged in order twenty handsome rifles, the gift of the workmen to 
.Kossuth. Over them was covered a white cloth bordered with ever- 
greens and on it was painted: " Material Aid for Hungary." Eli 
Whitney showed Kossuth through the factory, Mrs. Kossuth being 
escorted bv a New Haven citizen from Germanv. In due time, the 
party arrived on the bridge, in front of the row^ of guns. At this 
point, the workmen were each introduced to Kossuth by name, Mr. 
Whitney being master of ceremonies. Each man shook hands with 
the Hungarian. Mr. Whitney made a short speech, presenting the 
guns, and Kossuth, in returning thanks, remarked that if he had one 
more opportunity to contend on the field of battle, for his beloved 
country, those arms should be given to chosen men who should be ever 
near him, and he w^ould not fail to remind them from whom the gift 
came, and he believed they would not dishonor their cause or the 
patriotic impulses of the generous men who made the arms and 
gave them to his country. At the New Haven House, Leopold 
W^aterman, on behalf of the German Lodge, No. 14, O. S. D. F., 
presented Kossuth with a purse of twenty-five dollars. After 
dinner, Kossuth was given up to the Massachusetts committee, in 



200 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

whose company he travelled northward. In his speech Mayor 
Skinner said among other things : 

" On the very spot where we now stand, a little more than two 
centuries ago, was a savage wilderness, and just two hundred and 
fourteen years ago, the very week past, a vessel sailed into the 
harbor, with a company of brave and Christian men, who, as their 
very first act, on a peaceful Sabbath morning, of which the last 
Sabbath was the anniversary, met under the spreading branches of a 
large oak, a short distance from this spot, in the public worship of 
God. You behold before you here, as you will elsewhere in New 
England, the descendants of that race of men who preferred civil 
and religious liberty to all else which men commonly hold dear; 
who forsook home and country, the hearths, the altars, the graves of 
their fathers, for the great idea — as one of our poets expresses it — 
for freedom to worship God. ... It is precisely because we love 
liberty — because we respect law — because we reverence the Chris- 
tian religion, that we are deeply interested in your native land. We 
know that your own liungary has been a battle-field of nations ; we 
know that Hungary has been the bulwark of Christendom against the 
Moslem and the Turk ; we know that a brave and chivalric race has 
for ages defended your native soil. We have read the story of that 
young and heroic Queen, who, surrounded by the armies of three 
great powers of Europe, and overwhelmed by calamity and misfor- 
tune, fled in the darkest days of her adversity, for protection, to the 
brave and the gallant people of your native land. She asked for 
help from your nobles and she received it. When the pale and pen- 
sive but imperial queen stood before them in deep mourning, the 
crown of her ancestors on her brow, her right hand leaning upon the 
hilt of the sword of the Austrian Kings, and leading by her left hand 
her little daughter, and committed herself and her children to their 
protection, the youth, the beauty, the calamities of the heroic queen, 
roused to the utmost intensity the chivalric devotion of those war- 
like magnates, and grasping their swords and waving them over 
their heads, they shouted simultaneously : ' Moriamur pro rege nostra 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 201 

Maria Theresa ." They made good their words — they did fight and 
die for their queen — drove back her enemies and restored her to her 
rights and her throne. . . . And finally, what a pang of deep and 
bitter sorrow and despair smote our hearts, when we found that all 
vour valor, vour sacrifices, vour heroic devotion to vour countrv had 
been in vain, and that brave, noble Hungary had fallen in disastrous 
but not inglorious battle! " 

Doubtless the mayor in this address represented faithfully the 
views of most of the Chapel street merchants, as well as those of 
men who worked in New Haven shops and factories. In his reply, 
Kossuth said : " Public instruction here yields its everlasting fruit. 
You are instructed in the principles of the divine revelation, and 
therefore you are a free people — you are an intelligent people : you 
are a Christian, a religious people — a people able in the best manner 
to govern yourselves. From such men I am not surprised to meet 
with sympathy in New Haven." 

It was in the same year (1852), while the friends of Winfield Scott 
and of William A. Graham of North Carolina, were working hard to 
secure their election respectively as President and Vice-President of 
the United States, that New Haven celebrated in a very noteworthy 
manner, on July 4, the 76th anniversary of American Independence. 
There was an imposing parade of military and citizens, commencing 
at -11.30 in the forenoon, the Blues, the Grays, and the Governor's 
Guards being in the line. The orator of the day and civil authori- 
ties were in carriages. At the State House, in Representatives' hall, 
Hon. A. N. Skinner called the assemblage to order. Rev. Dr. 
Cleaveland prayed. The Declaration of Independence was read by 
Henry B. Harrison. Hon. Eleazer K. Foster, the orator, had for his 
text : "The dangers which threaten our country and their remedies." 
He mentioned the dangers from immigration, unwise reforms, and 
the growth of sectional feeling. The remedies were the dissemina- 
tion of religious truth and knowledge, a well defined sense of right 
and a spirit of mutual concession. The company, after the exercises 
at the State House, sat down to a dinner in the Tontine, kept by S. 



202 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

W. Allis. This was the principal feature of the day. Hon. Aaron 
N. Skinner presided at the table, assisted by Col. N. S. Hallenbeck, 
Capt. James Quinn, Capt. James M. Tovvnsend and Lieut. J. Mont- 
gomery Woodward. In a speech by Henry B. Harrison were the 
following sentences, which are very worthy of preservation. 

"It is well for us to go back from time to time, to the source from 
which these doctrines flow. It is in civil as in religious affairs ; the 
child at first receives understandingly from its mother, the great, yet 
simple truth of religion, and though in after years he may wander 
away into speculation, yet at last must he come back to cling as his 
only hope to the doctrines contained in his early lessons. So we, 
although we mav be led at times to doubt the superiority of our 
institutions, will be forced at last to return to those principles which 
lie at the foundation of our freedom and our prosperity." Among 
the toasts given, was one in memory of Nathan Hale, which was 
drank in silence, and a Mr. Allen proposed one as follows : 

" Dr. yEneas Monson and Captain Gad Peck. The only surviving 
soldiers of the Revolution, that are residents of our city. May their 
declining days be cheered with the thought that their children and 
children's children will continue to commemorate the annual return 
of the country's birthday." 

The dinner party broke up on account of the arrival from New 
York of the National Guards. They were escorted by the military 
to the Green from the steamboat. In the evening there were fire- 
w^orks on the Green, the closing piece being a temple surrounded by 
American flags, on the top of which w^as seen an eagle, while within 
appeared a large statue surmounted by the word " Washington." 

Hardly had Contractor Montgomery commenced his destructive 
assault on the State House, when there arose among the people 
drawn thitiier by their interest in the work, the question as to 
whether there would be found a corner-stone ; whether there was 
concealed in any part of the foundation, a small or large box of 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 203 

either wood or metal, which, upon being opened, would be found to 
contain the coins, documents and newspapers sometimes placed in 
corner-stones of public and some large private buildings. It was 
not recollected by any of the workmen who were employed in the 
construction of the building that there had ever been any ceremoni- 
ous deposit of the kind. The consensus of opinion among a num- 
ber of persons who had worked on the building during the time of 
its erection, was that if a corner-stone concealed any historic matter, 
it must have been placed somewhere under the walls, without the 
thing being made public. Some of the workmen who aided in the 
construction, said they never heard of a corner-stone. Yet it 
appears unlikely that in so large a building and of such a kind, there 
should have been no " corner-stone." One day the contractor, by 
the explosion of twenty-five pounds of gunpowder, at the foot of the 
pier on the southwest corner, caused a great downfall of that part of 
the building. The stones, bricks and rubbish displaced by the 
explosion were carted away forthwith, or at least the work of 
removal of these stones was at once commenced. There was picked 
up a few feet from the building, where it lay near some de'bris, a flat 
stone about twenty inches square, which had the appearance of 
once having covered the deposit place of the "box" containing 
corner-stone archives and treasure. This stone looked as though it 
had been laid over a square, hollow space inside of brick-work, and 
as though it had been the cover placed over the receptacle prepared 
for the interior box or canister in which historical relics might 
reasonably be expected to be found. Those who saw this flat stone, 
were of the opinion that it was the cover, as described. The con- 
tractor thought the same, and he had no doubt that somebody had 
slyly carried off the sought for treasure. One citizen had offered 
him seventy-five dollars for the box inside the corner-stone, should 
one be found. An old lady who lives out of the city, was quite sure 
that she saw a corner-stone laid, but upon being interrogated as to 
under which corner of the building it was placed, she could not 
remember. Hundreds of people who saw the flat stone, were agreed 



204 ^^^ HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

that it was over the square cavity built around with bricks and into 
which the articles for preservation were probably put. But no inside 
box of treasure was found by the contractor, who said he believed 
there had been one and that it had been stolen. A few bricks 
found near the flat stone, on some of their sidtrs appeared not to have 
been used in the ordinary work of building, and they were perhaps 
built into the corner of the foundation for the purpose suggested. 

The first association of a few people in New Haven who rejected 
the doctrine of everlasting punishment for the unbelieving, was con- 
sidered as a shocking affront to religion, and in orthodox churches 
prayers were offered in an indiscriminate way, for pagans, infidels 
and " Universalists." It required a great deal of courage for a 
pious person to be a Universalist. A few citizens who felt alike 
with regard to the teachings of the New England primer, met Sunday 
evenings in a quiet way, and while they formed but a small associa- 
tion, their meetings were occasionally held in the basement of the 
State House. An elderly citizen remembers seeing some Universal- 
ists sitting on benches placed along the wall, in the basement of the 
building, and lookmg, to his imagination, very much as if they were 
conscious of doing something highly improper. At one time they 
met regularly in Saunders' Hall, on the northeast corner of Chapel 
and Orange streets, and the first church was not built until 1850. It 
was on the southeast corner of State and Court streets. Tliey after- 
ward worshipped in what had been the church of the First Baptist 
societv, now owned by Dr. P. C. Skiff. Moses Ballou, the son of 
Hosea Ballou, known as the Father of Universalism in tlie United 
States, at one time ministered to that denomination in New Haven. 
Their pretty little church, with parsonage attached, on Orange, above 
Elm street, is on land once a part of the large garden of Eli Whit- 
ney, the inventor. A second Universalist society worshipped in a 
chapel on Davenport avenue, they having bought it in 1883. 

There was brought before one of the chambers of the Common 
Council, August 5, 1889, a resolution for removing the posts at the 
entrances to Trowbridge square. This square was formerly " Spire- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 205 

worth " square, the persons who donated the land and otherwise 
effected the improvement, having had the square named. The res- 
ohuion was amended so as to make the order apply to all the 
23ublic squares in the city. At this time a few public spirited citi- 
zens entertained the idea of making great improvements on the 
Green, by removing all the posts and fences and having a curbed 
walk of concrete or artificial stone made all around the Green, 
inside the street walks. Benches were to be placed along this walk 
and at night electric lights were to illuminate what was to be known 
as a " mall." When the matter was spoken of, considerable opposi- 
tion to the project was at once developed. In due course, the mat- 
ter was referred to the city's committee on squares. Then was 
presented by Councilman James T. Moran, a remonstrance, which 
was by both chambers referred to the committee. It is evident from 
the reading, that the remonstrance was hastily prepared and an 
exact copy is here given of it. Precisely what part of it is a copy 
of the former remonstrance, and how much of it is new matter, does 
not sufficiently appear, but the main matter is quite perspicable. 

" The undersigned, petitioners, residents and property owners of 
the city of New Haven, respectfully represent that the public neces- 
sity and convenience require that a petition now before you be 7iot 
granted, which asks for the removal of the stone posts at the corners 
of the Green and Wooster square, also requesting that the iron 
fence around the same should be taken away. 

" They therefore respectfully ask your honorable body to order 
that the petition be not granted. 

" And as in duty bound, they will ever pray, etc. 

" Dated at New Haven, this 12th day of x^ugust, 1889." 

This remonstrance was as follows : 

Copy. 
"Whereas, A proposition is now before your Honorable Body for 



^!a. n. loper coT]^ 

• • LIMITED. ♦♦ 



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856 Ghapel Street, 




A. N. LOPER, 

C. L. PERKINS, (Special.) 



NEW ha™, Com, 



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FOR A LUNCH OR A FULL MEAL 

GO TO 




Parlors Especially ^rrai]ged for Ladies. 

Prompt Service and Courteous 
ATTENDANTS. 

-^^^ICl CREAM 10 CEHTS^l^^ 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 2O7 

the removal of the stone posts at the entrance of the Green and 
Wooster square : 

•' Whereas, The above proposition is urged, as we believe, only by 
a very few persons, and is opposed, as we believe, by a large 
majority of our citizens : 

"Whereas, No petition has been presented in its favor, and a 
remonstrance signed by many of our most prominent citizens, has 
been presented against it : 

" Whereas, It is even frankly avowed by the friends of the measure, 
that this is only a beginning, and their ultimate object is to have 
the iron fences around the Green and Wooster square entirely 
taken away, a step involving the destruction or alienation of 
many thousand dollars' worth of city property, and a measure 
extremely obnoxious to our citizens and the public : 
" Therefore, we, the undersigned, do also respectfully remonstrate 

against the removal of said stone posts, and request that said posts 

and fences be left as at present. 

" I. Because the same proposition was brought forward in 1835 

and was then met by a remonstrance signed by many of our best 

citizens, and therefore failed to pass. 

" II. This remonstrance above given, although only a few hours' 

time remained to procure signatures, was signed by many of our 

most eminent citizens, by most of the presidents of our banks, by the 

pastors of the churches on the Green, and other clergy, we believe ; 

by Governor English, Governor Bigelow, and Governor Harrison ; by 

the late Hon. Thomas R. Trowbridge, and many other prominent 

business men ; also by the present president and two ex-presidents of 

Yale College, and by all of its faculty who could be found in time. 
"hi. It was also signed by almost every one of the residents 

around the Green and Wooster square, who are even more interested 

in this matter than the rest of our citizens. 

" Their strong show of public opinion was then decisive with your 

Honorable Body, and the whole matter was dropped, as we hope it 

will be again. 



2o8 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

" IV. There is no reason to believe that there has been any 
change in pubHc opinion since that time. 

"v. It is very important to the comfort and safety of ladies and 
children that these posts and fences should remain. Where our 
wives and daughters with infant children and their nurses are, there 
should be entire freedom from danger and sudden fright, either of 
being stampeded by crowds, or hurt by runaway horses (two run- 
away accidents having happened in Elm and Church streets in one 
forenoon), 

" VI. The Green is not a city square, but a park. It is i6 acres 
in extent, filled with beautiful trees, and adorned with noble build- 
ings, and forms a true park, a place of seclusion set apart from busi- 
ness purposes for rest and recreation, and all that makes a lovely 
park so great a gift to the people of a city, where ladies, and chil- 
dren, and the weary and heavy-laden can find rest and refreshment. 

" VII. These posts and fences serve as city ordinances and as 
policemen, for the protection from danger and disorder, from sudden 
crowds, and frightened animals. 

" They were removed from Union and Madison Squares in New 
York, under the notorious Tweed administration, and those squares 
have ever since been illy kept and little used by ladies and children, 
thus taking away their most valuable purpose. The same tendency 
to desecration and neglect of our city parks will follow here, if the 
posts and fences are removed. 

" VIII. Our parks are of recent origin in this country. But in 
Europe they have long been beautiful decorations of every city, and 
we know of no European city where the iron railings and gates of 
their splendid parks have been levelled, but always maintained, and 
adorned, and made beautiful enclosures for the turf, and trees, and 
fountains within. Let us be guided by the wisdom and experience 
of older nations in this matter. 

" IX. Mr. Andrus, the late Commissioner of Parks, has stated 
that these posts cost about $23 apiece. The iron fence with the 
stone posts between sections is believed to have cost some $15,000, 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 209 

We ought to think twice, and many times, before ordering the 
destruction of so much city property. 

"Let us preserve the Green and Wooster square in all their 
beauty, in all their safety, for the common enjovment and happiness 
of all, and the ladies of New Haven will ever be grateful to your 
Honorable Body. 

"James M. B. Dwight, 
" WiNi. T. Bartlett, 
" Wilbur F. Day, 
"John P. Tuttle, 
"Geo. a. Root." 

The amended petition and the remonstrance are the bases upon 
which the arguments for and against the project will be made. 
There are a number of citizens who felt grieved to see the State 
House fall, and some of them are much opposed to any further 
movement in connection with the Green. Thev hold that should the 
mall be made, and the fences be removed, the improvement will open 
the way for those public-spirited reformers who desire to see the 
three churches removed. But other citizens say that the Green, as 
things are arranged, does not afford as much accommodation for 
people to enjoy rest and relaxation as is desirable. It is impossible 
to predict what final action will be taken, but those who favor the 
improvement^ say they feel certain that it will in time be accom- 
plished. There are many things, in relation to city parks, now 
attracting the attention of the entire population of New Haven. 
The Board of Aldermen, August 5, 1889, referred to the committee 
on squares the following, which was offered by one of their own 
body : 

" Ordered^ That the Committee on Squares investigate the pro- 
priety, feasibility and expense of removing the fence, widening the 
walks, and placing of more seats on what is known as the public 
square or Green, bounded by Chapel, Church, Elm and College 
14 



210 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

Streets ; and that they request all citizens interested to appear before 
them and give their views regarding the changes proposed. 

" The committee are further directed to report on the above to 
this Court of Common Council, on or before the first Monday of 
November, 1889. 

" Frank C. Bushnell." 

Arguments for and remonstrances against proposed public 
improvements are usually strengthened by the mention of " promi- 
nent citizens," in a general rather than specific way. So, too, when 
any project is started which its promoters fancy desirable, their 
petitions to the Common Council are apt to contain the information 
that it has the approval of taxpayers and residents. One of New 
Haven's prominent residents and taxpayers was King Lanson. He 
was pre-eminent in depravity, and died at the almshouse in the night 
of May 28, 185 1, aged about seventy-five years. He was a colored 
man and built Long Wharf by contract and at one time was worth 
not less than $40,000. King Lanson, in early life, was engaged in 
various works requiring some engineering skill. In time he became 
abandoned and grew to be notorious as a representative of wicked- 
ness. The old Liberian Hotel, which was totally destroyed by fire, 
September 17, 1825, stood at the foot of Greene street, the site at 
this time of the Mai lory, Wheeler & Company lock manufactory. 
The house was the resort of lewd and dissolute persons, both white 
and colored, and the firemen made no reasonable efforts to prevent 
the fire from burning it down. Lanson, or Lansing as he was some- 
times called, with a good education and good moral training, would 
have made a valuable member of society and probably have become 
as distinguished for talents and virtues as he was for the absence of 
the latter, for he was endowed with more than a common mind. 
The year in which King Lanson died was the same in which Jenny 
Lind visited New Haven to sing, and the same year in which extra- 
ordinary efforts were made to destroy the canker worms, whose 
ravages threatened to seriously injure, if not destroy, the life of all 



THE HISTORY OF THE STA TE HOUSE. 2 I 1 

the elms on the Green and in Temple street. An incident of the 
visit of Jenny Lind to New Haven is remembered with pleasure by 
those who were present at the time. She lodged at the New Haven 
House, corner of Chapel and College streets. At a late hour of the 
evening, Mr. Henry Thomas, Mr. Ainsworth, and the two brothers 
Munger, gave her a delightful serenade. Mr. Thomas and Mr. 
Ainsworth played first and second flute, and the Mungers first and 
second violin. It is right to say that sweeter instrumental music 
was probably never heard in New Haven. After playing two pieces, 
the gentlemen were invited into the parlor of the house, where they 
spent a short time very agreeably in the company of the famous 
singer. The site of the New Haven House was occupied in 1653 
by the mansion of Deputy Governor Stephen Goodyear, with whom 
resided Mrs. Elizabeth Godman, who before the Court of Magis- 
trates, accused Mr. and Mrs. Goodyear and other persons, of talk- 
ing about her and saying that she was a witch. The court, after 
hearing her complaint, decided that she could prove nothing and 
warned her not to go into people's houses and generally make her- 
self offensive by her eccentric carriage. She again complained, how- 
ever, and in August, 1655, the Plantation Court sent her to prison. 
She died in 1660, after a good deal of suffering caused by her sensi- 
tive temper and the gossip of her neighbors, her home at the time 
being in the house of Thomas Johnson. 

Rev. Leonard Bacon, pastor of the Center Church, was in Rome, 
Italy, in 185 1. What effect his journey to the Old World may have 
had in modifying the religious opinions held by him in the early days 
of his pastorate cannot be determined, but he was a conspicuous 
figure on the platform erected for the convenience of the bishop and 
clerg}', at the laying of the corner stone of St. Mary's Roman Cath- 
olic Church, on Hillhouse avenue, a few years ago. In the early 
part of 185 1 New Haven felt the influences of a considerable relig- 
ious awakening, and in one and perhaps more churches, meetings 
were held every evening. The celebrated revivalist. Rev. Mr, 
Kirk, preached in the Center Church to a crowded house, and at the 



2 1 2 THE HIS TOR Y OF THE STA TE HOUSE. 

North Church, John B. Goiigh lectured on temperance. In the 
evening of January 21, of the same year, there was a general turnout 
of citizens and their wives and children, to see the parade on the 
occasion of a visit to the city of Humane Engine Company, No. 13, 
of Philadelphia, and a delegation from No. 31 company of the New 
York Fire Department. James T. Hemingway, chief engineer of the 
New Haven Fire Department, was chief marshal and rode " Bold 
Tiger," a famous, handsome parade horse. The Grays performed 
escort duty and the column extended from Broadway to State street. 
New Haven's vote for governor in that year was 1,512 for Lafayette 
S. Foster (whig) ; 1,428 for Thomas H. Seymour (Democrat); and 64 
for John Boyd. For Congress James F. Babcock, afterward a judge 
of the city court, received 1,467 votes, and Colin M. IngersoU 1,345. 
New Haven County gave Babcock 4.795 votes, and IngersoU 4,990. 
Middlesex County gave Babcock 1,999, '^^^'^ IngersoU 2,336. Mr. 
Ingersoll's nomination was engineered by some of the younger men of 
the Democratic party and in opposition to the management of party 
affairs, which had for a long time previously been supervised by a 
number of old politicians, who used to arrange things at their meet- 
ings in the editorial room of the Register^ the organ of the Democratic 
party. It was by a division of the party of a similar character, at a 
later date, that Hon. Francis Wayland was elected Judge of Probate 
over Levi B. Bradle}', although, had the " old " and "young" Demo- 
crats been united his election would have been impossible. Mr. 
Wayland had been active in promoting recruiting of soldiers for the 
war for the Union. Ten years before the breaking out of the war. 
Mayor Skinner, in a message to the Common Council, deplored the 
want of military spirit among the citizens. He complained that in a 
city of 23,000 inhabitants, there were not enough soldiers to make a 
respectable holiday parade and in one part of his message, delivered 
in April, 185 1, he said : 

" I was surprised on a recent occasion, when it was thought proper 
to invite the military to unite in a public solemnity, to find how 
small is our military force. There are nominally three companies 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 21 3 

in the city, but they are so reduced in numbers that the total would 
scarcely make one full company." 

At the north steps of the State House was erected a speakers' 
stand for the Fourth of July celebration in 185 1. All the surviving 
soldiers of the Revolution in the parade that day, rode in one 
barouche. In the procession were the Hibernia Provident Society 
and the Montgomery Benevolent Society. The Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was read by Charles H. Pond, of Milford. Hon. Hiram 
Ketcham, of New York, made an oration over two hours in delivery, 
and he embraced the occasion to warn the ministers of religion 
against promoting sectional discord by their sermons. Ki the 
dinner^, in the Tontine, which followed the exercises at the State 
House, Mayor Skinner, who presided, was assisted by vice-presidents 
Henry Button, J. B, Robertson and Henry G. Lew^is, the two last 
having since served the city as its chief magistrate. A large body 
of the Order of United Americans from New York, and the Brooklyn 
Continentals, although visiting the city, were not in the procession. 
The children had a great celebration on the Green the 23d of the 
month. They marched in at the Chapel street end of Temple 
street. William H. Elliott, Jr., after whose father the Elliott House, 
corner of Chapel and Olive streets, is named, was chief marshal. 
His aids were E. H. Frisbie, Bernard Reilly, A. C. Chamberlain and 
John D. Candee, the latter for many years before his death, being 
the editor of the Bridgeport Standard^ an organ of the aristocratic 
element in Republican politics. Seats were placed under the ehns in 
front of the churches, for three thousand children. A table in the 
vicinity was laden with delicacies which were passed around among 
the children at proper intervals, and the infantile singing was re- 
lieved from monotony by music from the New Haven brass band. 
The whole affair w^as a pleasant thing to remember. Thanksgiving 
Day of that year Rev. Dr. Bacon preached one of those powerful 
sermons which he could preach when he felt so disposed and which 
served to make him famous throughout the whole land, in which he 



214 ^-^^ HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

maintained that there was a law more binding upon Christian pro- 
fessors than any of human enactment. He made no mention, how- 
ever, of the slavery question, but all who heard the sermon knew 
what he meant and all the "free soilers " and "compromise" politi- 
cians were much pleased and edihed. In this method of shaping 
public opinion by ministers of religion, the thoughtful reader will 
find reason to consider whether the present system of public educa- 
tion fully answers the purpose for which it has been established. 
Precisely because the state has fostered " a system " is it not pos- 
sible that citizens are liable in the future, to reason all alike and if 
so, would it be a happy thing for our Commonwealth ? Writes an 
eminent thinker and historian : " On the whole, how unknown is a 
man to himself ; or a public Body of men to itself ! ^sop's fly sat 
on the chariot-wheel, exclaiming. What a dust I do raise ! Great 
governors clad in purple with fasces and insignia are governed by 
their valets, by the pouting of their women and children, or, in con- 
stitutional countries, by the paragraphs of their Able Editors." 

Thomas McCaffrey was tried in the county court room in the 
Slate House, in 1850, and convicted of the murder of an aged couple 
named Smith, who lived in a small house on East Rock. Robbery 
was the motive of the murderer, who was convicted and hanged. 
Sheriff David H. Carr, who traced the wretch to Canada where the 
arrest was made, was credited with havinor admirablv manaired the 
pursuit and capture. The principal evidence against the murderer 
was a bullet which was found to fit a pistol owned by him, and his 
sudden flight from the city was an incident to his disadvantage. 
The trial of Willard Clark for the murder of a young man named R. 
\V. Wight in 1854, drew to the same court room a crowd of interested 
citizens. Clark, who kept a small store on the corner of York and 
George streets, had expected to marry Henrietta Bogert, aged about 
seventeen years. He had from his own limited income paid for her 
instruction in music, and their engagement to be married was known 
to all their friends. Wight had boasted that he could take the girl 
away from her lover and he did succeed in getting married to her. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 21^ 

Clark felt in his grief and disappointment that Wight had done an 
act of treachery and from no higher motive than vanity. He 
believed that the girl would never be happy, and determined to 
remove Wight. He went to the house where the newly married 
couple lived. Wight was in a stooping posture, doing something to 
the fire. Clark stepped up quickly and shot a bullet from a pistol 
into the back of his head. The funeral of the murdered man took 
place from the College Street Church, and was attended by people 
from all parts of the city, many of whom were unable to enter the 
church Ob account of the great crowd present. A full report of the 
trial was prepared and printed and sold by H. H. McFarland, who 
afterward became a minister. He lost money by the enterprise. 
Hon. Charles Chapman, of Hartford, and Hon. Henry B. Harrison, 
of New Haven, were the counsel for the defence at the trial, and E. 
K. Foster, the State's attorney, was assisted in the prosecution by 
James D. Keese, who had been a schoolfellow of Clark's. The 
jury acquitted Clark on the ground of insanity. He was ordered by 
Judge Ellsworth to be confined, and he was kept for some time in 
the county jail. Afterward he was sent to the State's prison and 
finally died about 1880, in the Middletown insane asylum, whither he 
had been transferred. While in the State's prison, a gentleman 
named Dorsey, through whose generosity the prisoners were treated 
once a year to a roast meat dinner, endeavored to effect Clark's lib- 
eration. He consulted with the State's attorney, and a judge was 
found who would be willing to accept Mr. Dorsey's bond as a guar- 
antee for Clark's good behavior, provided Clark w^ould say that when 
he killed W'ight he had done a wrongful act. This the prisoner 
would not say. He insisted that he had done right and that under 
similar circumstances he would again do as he had done. This 
obstinacy precluded all hope of his ever being set at liberty. Before 
the commission of the tragedy Clark had been a reader of books in 
which religious creeds were discussed, and was known to entertain 
views considered heterodox and therefore dangerous. He had the 
reputation of being an honorable young man, and the day before the 



J. G. NORTH. J. C. NORTH. 



NORTH'S 




^-S-AGIHCYi 






JH©. 70 (shttr-ch Street. 

FIRE, LIFE, ACCIDENT, 

mmm m m-cuss buce. 



REAL ESTATE LOANS. 



, THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 217 

shooting he had busied himself in paying a number of small debts, 
due to different persons from whom he had bought merchandise. 
His conduct during his long confinement had been exemplary and he 
gave his keepers no trouble. In the same court room, some years 
previously, was tried a man named Abbott, who was sent to State's 
prison for life for killing his wife, by pouring melted lead in her ear 
while she was asleep. During the trial he appeared indifferent to 
the proceedings and chewed plug tobacco. McCaffrey was hung at 
the same time with a fellow named Foote, who murdered a niece to 
prevent her from disclosing an outrage of which he had been guilty. 

A very shocking thing occurred on the Green, the Fourth of July, 
1850. There had been a fine celebration and the large procession 
had for chief marshal, John E. Wylie. The people assembled at 
the north portico of the State House. Rev, Dr. Harry Croswell 
prayed. Hon. William W. Boardman, who once represented this 
Congressional district in Washington, read the '* Declaration." The 
oration was bv Hon. Henrv B. Harrison. The dinner was under a 
big tent west of the State House. Mayor Skinner presided, and 
Hon. W. ^^^ Boardman, Henry Peck, William H. Ellis, Frederick 
Croswell, Henry Dutton, John B. Robertson and Charles L. English 
were the vice-presidents. Among the volunteer toasts was one 
offered by the Mayor and which found enthusiastic endorsement. 
It was : 

" The Orator of the Day. The equality and brotherhood of the 
human race has had this day, a most eloquent and able advocate." 

As each toast was announced, a cannon was fired by Mr. Hub- 
bard. The gun was not elevated so as to throw the wadding used in 
loading over the heads of people, but before each discharge, warn- 
ing was given and the people, among whom were scores of children, 
divided right and left. Just before firing, while the space in front 
of the cannon was clear, Norah Welch, aged ten years, started to 
follow her twin sister, who had crossed the open space. She was a 



2 l8 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

little nervous and hesitated a moment while in range of the gun. 
The hesiiation was fatal to her, for her head was knocked off by the 
ball of wadding. For an instant, the gunner thought that it was his 
own child who was killed and was almost prostrated by his emotion. 
The child was a daughter of Robert Welch. The Revolutionary war 
men in the procession that day were Jonathan Maltby, aged 92, New 
Haven; Ebenezer Hotchkiss, aged 92, Prospect; Gad Peck, aged 
86, New Haven ; Wilson Hurd, aged 88, Seymour ; and Joseph 
Bronson, aged 87, Waterbury. On the thirteenth of the month the 
entire city was in mourning, it being the day of the funeral of Presi- 
dent Taylor. In the evening the New Haven band played a dirge 
on the Green. The first snow that autumn was seen November 17. 

The receipts of the New York and New Haven Railroad Company 
in July, 1850, amounted to $46,653 an increase of $22,733 over the 
receipts of the corresponding month of the previous year. There 
was a very successful fair held in the State House the same year and 
among the exhibits were shirts of the Winchester manufactory. The 
introduction of the shirt making industry gave employment, not only 
to women and girls in New Haven, but also in neighboring towns, 
and a great deal of money was paid into families by means of this 
kind of work. At present, about twenty thousand persons, mostly 
women and girls, receive at least a partial support from the manu- 
facture of corsets. 

Possibly a mystery of climate caused the death of A. N. White- 
horne, of New York, the nth of Februar}^, 1878. The gentleman 
arrived at New Haven the day before, apparently in health. His 
body was well nourished and he was calm of demeanor. He regis- 
tered his name at the Tontine, in the afternoon of the loth, and after 
walking about the city, took supper there. In the evening he 
walked as far as Broadwav and entered a saloon where two or three 
men were playing at a shuffle-board. After looking at the game a 
few minutes, 'Mr. Whitehorne asked for a glass of ale. He drank a 
very little and setting down the glass, went to the Tontine and at an 
early hour retired to bed. At about five o'clock the mornins: follow- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 219 

ing, two or three persons who happened to be crossing the west 
section of the Green, saw a well-dressed man sitting on one of the 
lower steps of the State House, at the south end, take from his pock- 
et a small glass and a vial. He poured the contents of the vial 
into the glass which he raised to his lips. Almost instantly he fell 
on his side and when reached by those who had noticed him, the 
man was dead. Charles R. Whedon acted as coroner, and there was 
a jury of inquest. Telegrams were sent to New York and it was 
soon learned that Mr. Whitehorne, who looked like a German, was a 
Freemason in good standing and a much respected man, aged about 
forty-five years. He was forehanded, owing no debts and had no 
enemies. He was proprietor of a large job printing office in which 
many presses were kept at work. Of an amiable temper, he had 
always been of a home-loving frame of mmd and all his leisure was 
spent with his wife and children. He had always been in his right 
mind. The jury of inquest found that he died of paralysis of the 
heart, caused by taking prussic acid. No motive for the suicide 
could be discovered. 

A few years previously, a young and intellectual-looking Ger- 
man, with light-blue eyes and flax-colored hair, sat on the grass of 
the Green between the State House and the Center Church. He 
was seen to tear into small pieces a paper which may have been a 
letter. These he scattered on the grass. He then fired one shot 
from a revolver into his head and died in less than a minute. His 
identity was never learned but he had the appearance of having been 
a scholar. It was conjectured that in the cases of both men, they 
had come to New Haven with suicidal intent. 

The conservative spirit of New Haven was finely manifested in 
the spring of 1853, when the expediency of distributing what Pro- 
fessor Silliman, in a report upon that subject, said were " the sweet 
waters of Mill River," throughout the city by means of street mains 
was being discussed. The principal argument which had been made 
against the introduction of illuminating gas in 1847, namely : that it 
would kijl all the trees, was not available, The second dwelling 



220 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

house in New Haven, lighted by the gas, was that of Mayor Henry 
Peck, through whose efforts mainly, the improvement in lighting 
had been brought about, the first one having been that of Prof. B. 
Silliman, Jr., on Hillhouse avenue. When the gas war was fought out 
there was no question as to whether it should be introduced by the 
city or a private corporation, but the water discussion embraced that 
consideration. Many speeches were made and the newspapers were 
overloaded with communications touching the proposed substitution 
of pipe water for well water. It is related that when the matter was 
to be put to a vote at a freemen's meeting in the State House and it 
was about to be settled whether the city should embark in the water 
business, Mr. Benjamin Noyes, actuated then, as he ever has been, 
by a strong feeling of interest in whatever was for the good of New 
Haven, desired to make a speech. Not being able to say all that he 
wished in the crowded town hall in the basement, and also being 
determined to see if the vote Avas fairlv counted, he climbed a tree, 
from among the foliage of which he was told by Mayor Skinner to 
" come down." Mr. Noyes did come down, but not until he had 
made his remarks and satisfied himself that there had been a fair 
counting of the vote. There was a city meeting, March 19, 1853, at 
which it was voted that polls should be opened the 26th of the 
month. At a meeting in Brewster's Hall, corner of Chapel and 
Union streets, the evening of the 25th, powerful speeches on the 
water question were made by Dr. E. T. Foote, Marcus Merriman, 
Charles B. Lines, Ira Merwin, Mayor A. N. Skinner, N. Booth, Mor- 
ris Tyler, Oliver F. Winchester, James Brewster, Rev. Dr. Leonard 
Bacon, George W. Jones, Isaac Thompson, Ralph Benedict, Stephen 
Lawton and James Punderford. Two things were to be settled at 
the polls. First : " Shall the city have water at an expense of not 
rnore than $325,000 .'' " Second : " Shall the water committee apply 
to the legislature for the necessary powers to carry out the project .'' " 
The vote on the first point was, "yes" 1,044; " uo " 927. On the 
second point, "yes " 1,030 ; " no " 902. Water commissioners were 
appomted. There were in Ward No. i, 687 voters ; in Ward 2, 440 ; 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 221 

Ward 3, 712 ; and in Ward 4, 1,210, the city being at the time divided 
into four wards by the intersection of Chapel and Church streets. 
But the vote did not settle the controversy, which was carried on in 
a riotous and tumultuary fashion at freemen's meetings, from time to 
time. The matter got into the courts and finally a private corpora- 
tion secured the business of furnishing water to New Haven. With- 
in the past five years there has been an agitation of the question 
whether the city should bliy out the water company. A ballot set- 
tled the matter in favor of having the company supply the water. 
But the city can still take possession of the company's plant 
should the people decide upon the expediency ^f so doing. 

The Center Church bell which for many years had done good ser- 
vice, not only on Sundays and occasions of public rejoicing and 
mourning, gave out a queer sound, October 30, 1853. There had 
been an alarm for fire the Saturday night before and violent ringing 
had cracked it and destroyed its metallic melody for all future time. 
It was cast in New Haven and had been re-cast once or twice. The 
fire, on which its last energies were spent, was in a barn, near the 
Gregory place, in the western part of the city. 

There was an important gathering of distinguished and learned 
men at Representatives' hall in the State House, in August, 1853, 
where the Institute of Instruction held its sessions. This body of 
educators, actuated doubtless by the purest motives, put a dagger 
into the hearts of all school boys, when they acted upon a resolution 
offered by a delegate, in the following words : 

" Resolved, That it is the sense of this Institute, that keys to arithmetic and 
algebra, in the hands of pupils or teachers, tend to make superficial scholars, and 
that thorough instruction and the highest good of our common schools require 
our unqualified disapproval of their use." 

Here was a blow struck at the business of the booksellers, which, 
in the light of comparatively recent decisions of courts, rendered the 
gentlemen of the Institute liable to prosecution for boycotting. It 
is not possible to tell how many different societies, associations, 



222 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

organizations, and groups of men have been photographed while in 
position for the purpose, on the soutli steps of the State House. 
There have been photographs taken there, of various classes of 
college students, of the police force, of almost every kind of asso- 
ciation with a New Haven record. The very last photograph of a 
group, taken with the State House for a background, was that of a 
company of Knights Templar and Freemasons, and the last open 
air meeting on the steps was that of Safety Temple of Honor, Sun- 
day, June 3, 1889, presided over by Arthur W. Judd, and addressed 
by Dr. Charles Vishno. The last prayer of many thousands offered 
there for public hearing, was one by Rev. James W. Denton, who 
was present on the last occasion mentioned. The first meetings in 
behalf of organized labor were held on the same steps, by a number 
of striking printers. They employed speakers to make known the 
justice of their cause and printed a small sheet in newspaper form, 
whicii was, after a time, succeeded by the New Haven Union. The 
Morning News was originated by striking printers. On the same 
steps, about forty years ago, there appeared on a Sunday afternoon, 
two Mormon missionaries, who addressed the people for a few suc- 
cessive Sundays, but without making converts. A few years ago, 
religious meetings were held every Sunday on the steps. Superin- 
tendent Starkweather of the Hospital, being their conductor. The 
singing of hymns by the choirs, on these occasions, was oftentimes 
excellent, and large numbers of people who were not known to enter 
a house of worship, assisted in the exercises. The managers of these 
meetings were earnest in their efforts to do good in a dying world. 
So, too, were various temperance lecturers who held forth there from 
time to time ; and later, the organization of Good Samaritans had 
speaking there as well as on the band stand on the east section of 
the Green. At some of these religious meetings, John G. North 
was a speaker, his remarks being generally addressed to young peo- 
ple, and he had a happy faculty of illustrating his points by telling 
a story or an anecdote, with a pertinent application to the subject or 
text. Ever since he was a young business man in New Haven, this 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 223 

gentleman has been interested in the welfare of children, and 
although not as strong physically as he used to be, his love for chil- 
dren is as lively a sentiment in his heart, as ever. During: a session 
of the Legislature a few years before the breaking out of the war, 
there was a personal collision in the porch of the State House, be- 
tween Col. James Montgomery Woodward and David J. Peck. The 
friends of the latter gentleman were pushing him for the major- 
generalship of the Connecticut militia. Colonel Woodward, editor of 
the whig newspaper, wrote some editorials adverse to the selection 
of Mr. Peck for the position. No braver or more competent New 
Havener held a commission in the Union armv than Mr. Peck's 
brother Frank, and his death in the service of his country was 
greatly mourned by all who knew of his manly traits of character. 
David J. Peck, who died while a judge of the city court, was a man 
of brilliant mind and more than average culture. He made a voyage 
to the Orient, with Admiral Gregory, and was chosen to be one of 
the two clerks of the County Court, the other being Alfred H. Terry, 
who, until accepting the call of his country, discharged with accept- 
ance to the Bar, the duties of the office. There have been a number 
of interesting and well patronized poultry shows at the State House, 
the north portico being enclosed with boards in order to make more 
space for the exhibits. These were remarkable for the display of all 
kinds of pigeons and pet animals. When the State House was 
built, there were two or three citizens who adhered to the continental 
fashion in their clothing. Deacon Beers, who lived on Elm street, 
wore knee breeches, tied at the knee with a neat black ribbon. 
Chief-Justice David Daggett was the last man in New Haven to 
wear top-boots, the tops being of colored leather, and Rev. Harry 
Croswell was the last man who wore boots of that kind, the tops 
being of black leather. 

In the warm political contest between the Know-Nothings and 
Democrats, in 1856, Samuel Ingham, of Essex, received 32,704 votes ; 
William T. Minor, 26,108 ; Welles, 6,740 and Rockwell, 1,251. The 
Legislature had to elect, Minor receiving 135 votes and Ingham 116. 



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THE HISTORY OF THE ST A IE HOUSE. 



225 



Albert Day was elected Lieutenant-Governor. Then came the six 
weeks' fight over the election of a senator to represent the State in 
Congress. Isaac Toucey, James Dixon, Francis Gillette, Roger S. 
Baldwin, ex-Governor Holley and Samuel Ingham were fhe principal 
candidates, Mr. Dixon being finally elected. It is refreshing to 
recall the political condition of things during the " dark lantern " 
days, when the Know-Nothing party believed that no man born 
on foreign soil could be trusted to hold any office in the gift of the 
people. When this American movement was started, the whig 
leaders were startled and worried. They took counsel together and 
decided that it was for the interest of the party that they should join 
one' or more of the secret lodges of Know-Nothings. Some of iheni 
were refused admission, and were obliged to go to Fair Haven and 
join the organization there. The notices for meetings of the 
associations or lodges were printed in newspapers in such phrase- 
ology that the uninitiated could have no knowledge of what was 
meant. In a newspaper, generally amid the reading matter or at 
the top of a column, would appear a single line, like a motto of no 
particular significance, and this was the notification of the time and 
place of meeting. The principal idea among the members of the 
Know-Nothings or American party was understood to be, that the 
liberties under a republican form of government were in danger of 
becoming lost or subject to the decrees of the Roman Catholic 
Church. The wildest and most untruthful things were said. One 
gentleman named Smith, who afterward became an office-holder of 
the United States Government, used to say, and apparently with 
candor, that he believed the Catholics in New Haven were suffi- 
ciently powerful and numerous to rise in a single night and 
murder every Protestant in the city, thus repeating the fearful 
tragedy of St. Bartholomew's eve. This feeling of apprehension 
was fostered by waggish folks, who enjoyed stirring up timid people 
by stories of dark things seen and heard. One evening a small 
package of white powder was found in the pantry of a family living 
in the south part of the city and there was a writing on the package 
15 



226 THE lilS'IORV OB THE STATE HOUSE. 

to the effect that it was poison for administering to Protestant 
heretics. A great fuss was made and it was finally ascertained that 
the hired girl in the family, becoming disgusted with what she had 
heard, determined to play a practical joke. On being examined, the 
white pow^der was found to be sugar. In some streets, letters were 
dropped and afterward found and read, disclosing abominable plots 
to burn all the dwellings and other buildings owned by Protestants. 
None were traced to any source, and it soon came to be understood 
that they were written in fun and to arouse the fears of Protestants. 
The whole American party in the country was dissolved when its 
principles were attacked and ridiculed by that eminent politician, 
William H. Seward. 

There were three murders committed in this county on the same 
day, and the trial of the " Wakemanites," as they were called, in the 
County Court, commencing April i6, 1856, brought to the knowledge 
of the public the existence of a queer company of religious fanatics. 
None of the persons who had anything to do with the strange crime 
were possessed of much knowledge or discernment, but they were 
very much in earnest. These persons met at the house of Rhoda 
VVakeman, in the western part of the city, and they discussed and 
strengthened each other in a belief in some singular nonsense. 
They had prayers and singing and other observances, and after a 
time a man named Matihews was persuaded that he was haunted 
by " the man of sin." At a meeting one night, Matthew^s consented 
that it was better he should die rather than live and give " the man 
of sin " power to destroy his sister, and by consequence all the rest 
of the world. Matthew's consented to his owui death. The others 
bound his limbs. One of them stuck a fork in him, and he was also 
knocked on the head with a club of witch hazel. After he was dead, 
or perhaps before, his body was tumbled into the cellar of the house, 
where in a few days it was accidentally discovered. Miss Thankful 
Hersey, a neat, quiet old maid, a partly demented man known as 
*' Sammy " Sly and Rhoda, were acquitted of the charge of murder, 
on the ground of insanity. Sammy Sly lived some years in the 



'/HE HISTORY 01 THE STATE HoOsE. 22'' 

( ouniy jail, where he died. He spent most of his time in reading 
liis Bible and his knees had become swollen and calloused by kneel- 
ing in frequent prayer on the stone floor of his cell. Miss Hersey, 
who was simple-minded, had the good fortune to engage the sympa- 
thies of a wealthy gentleman living on Whitney avenue. He gave a 
large bond to the court for her safe keeping, and she was taken into 
his family, where she did plain sewing when she liked, and she lived 
peacefully for some years, A colored man named Jackson, arrested 
with the others, escaped trial, Editor James F. Babcock making con- 
siderable effort in his behalf. Charles Sanford, a vouno- man in bad 
health and having every appearance of being far gone with con- 
sumption, was also a Wakemanite. He lived in Woodbridge, and on 
the same day of the murder of Matthews, he took an axe, while in a 
frenzy, and murdered Ichabod Umberfield, at the foot of Carrington's 
hill. He waited in the road until Mr. Enoch Sperry, father of N. B. 
Sperry, of New Haven, passed that way in a sleigh. Sanford killed 
him by a blow of the axe on the back part of his head. Two juries 
of inquest with twelve men on each were summoned. The jury in 
the case of the death of Mr. Sperry had Nathan P. Thomas for fore- 
man, and the foreman in the Umberfield inquest was Thomas 
Darling. The officers had some trouble in getting twenty-four jury- 
men the same day, in the little hamlet where the tragedy occurred. 
Sanford was verv crazv and did not live long. There was confined 
for a long time in the county jail a man who made his appearance 
one day in the town of Guilford, and going into a farm-lot, he killed 
a pair of oxen. No one knew who he was, and he could give no 
account of himself further than that he recollected having once lived 
in a house painted white, w^hich stood near a river. He must have 
been missed from somebody's family, but whose, could not be 
learned. 

The first State fair in New Haven was held in October, 1854. 
Some of the exhibits were in the Orphan Asylum, corner of Elm and 
Beers street. The next one was in 1856, in Hamilton Park, and the 
venerable Thomas G. Pitman, a foreman for many years in the office 



228 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

(^f the Jourtial auT Courier and siill in employment wi.li ihe same 
newspaper, look a premium for an exhibit. The annual State fair is 
an institution likely to be maintained, the last one ha\ing been 
held at Meriden this year. It was not a success owing to unfavor- 
able weathei. There is very little of the old-fashioned feeling left, 
which formerly actuated Connecticut farmers in the establishment of 
agricultural fairs. Mere buyers and sellers of farm products, place 
on exhibition whatever they happen to have bought for sale, no mat- 
ter whether raised in this State or elsewhere, and owing to a short- 
sightedness in the management of modern fairs, these exhibits are as 
likely to be awarded medals or other prizes as those shown by our 
own cultivators. It was this mistake which discouraged exhibitors 
at the interesting fruit and flower shows which were once held in the 
Slate House. The agent and not the inventor or maker of a plough 
or mowing machine, took the prize, and it was to the advantage of 
the agent in advertising his business. Among the ladies, embroid- 
eries and fine needlework and knitting had to compete with work 
made by the aid of the sewing machine or knitting machine, and no 
manufacturer ever relinquished his prize to the workmen by whose 
■>\<\\\ and labor it became possible for him to receive the award. 
But there have been years when on the Green, larofe wagons from 
Bethany and towns near New Haven, made a very attractive appear- 
ance, trimmed with evergreens and adorned inside and outside with 
specimens of golden corn, big squashes and strings of red pe[)pers and 
other vegetables, the most charming exhibit of all being the healthv 
and lively daughters of the people who rode in the wagons, wearing 
holiday attire. And there were few finer sights of a big fair than the 
long line of famous red cattle from the Woodbridge hills, the sweet 
breath of morning in pearly shimmer on their broad, cool noses. 
What' large, intelligent and lustrous eyes had those cattle of the 
Connecticut hill-sides I 

One of the most singular uses to which the S'ate House was put, 
was for the holding of a pig-pen and pig. The pen was located 
about the miildle of the first floor above the basement, and patrons 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 22g 

of the fair of the Universalists were offered a prize for correct guess- 
ing of its weight, lliis was the last fair held in the building and 
was made a success through the energy of John McCarthy, who 
made all the arrangements. The fair was held in ihc winter of 1888-9 
and there was dancing every evening during its continuance. When 
the contractor's men were demolishing the upper part of the building, 
they found and removed to the Green, three plaster-of-paris statues, 
each representing a female, wiih her head and shoulders covered by 
drapery. Each statue represented the woman as having one foot 
pressing to ihe ground a viper or some other sort of snake. Some- 
body had found in the basement a tin sign on which was the legend 
" Lager Beer." This was set in front of the three statues. One 
citizen of a historical turn of mind, suggested that the three figures 
were plaster goddesses having in charge the hopes and interests of 
the Pilgrim Fathers. Another thought they were intended to com- 
memorate that peculiar affliction, by the vulgar denominated "jim 
jams." ]\lr. T. D. Read, though not exactly a classical scholar, 
viewed the line proportions of these inanimate works of an unknown 
artist's hand and felt sure they were goddesses. After they had 
been sufficiently admired, they w^ere tumbled into one of the carts of 
rubbish and taken away by the contractor. 

The Boston Advertisci- in August, 1889, editorially expressed some 
of the views of those citizens of New Haven, who would have pre- 
vented the removal of the State House had they been able. The 
article upon the subject read as follows : 

"That old State House is a priceless memento of a glorious past. 
It is a perpetual reminder that New Haven was originally an inde- 
pendent colony, and that, for nearly two centuries and a half it 
shared with Hartford the honor of being a state capital. \A'ithin 
those walls were uttered words whose echoes reached the continent 
and beyond the sea. Its style of architecture suggests the classic 
learning which, from the beginning, has been more faithfully taught 
in that locality than anywhere else in the new world. Those Doric 
columns are not more noble in their stately simplicity than is the 



230 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

character of mind and morals that Yale College has, during many 
generations, stiiven, not unsuccessfully, to fashion ; so that her sons 
have been among ihe chief pillars of our Republic. Tens of thou- 
sands of men and women throughout the land, who are now in 
middle or advanced age, remember, with all the pleasure that 
attaches to youthful impressions, the picture of the capitol building 
at New Haven, Conn., which was in so many school books forty or 
fifty years ago. To tear down that building would be to obliterate 
one of the chief milestones on the path of time." 

But the New Haven Register^ in re-printing the article, commented 
upon it, and a part of its editorial published August 18, 1889, con- 
tained this : 

" It will be news to most New Haveners to be told that the State 
House is a ' priceless memento of the glorious past.' It is not, nor 
has it ever been priceless. It is a memento of New Haven's folly in 
allowing Hartford to gobble up the capital. It is a perpetual 
reminder that New Haven in the past has shown a deplorable lack 
of public spirit in important crises. It is not a 'chief milestone on 
the path of time." Rather is it an encumbrance, a public nuisance, 
a bone of contention, an eyesore, a laughing stock, a hideous pile of 
brick and mortar, a blot on the fair surface of the Green. The Bos- 
ton paper doesn't know what it is talking about." 

When about noon, August 8, 1889, Judge Carpenter dissolved the 
second temporary injunction to restrain the contractor from pro- 
ceeding with the work of removing the building, Benjamin No3'es 
was walking in the lobby of the court room. He was asked by a 
newspaper reporter what would next be done. He is reported to 
have said : " I don't want to talk ; I want to murder somebody." 
When the suggestion was made that he (Mr. Noyes), together with 
William H. H. Hewett, George Hotchkiss, 2d, George E. Bates, 
Ransom Hills, John G. Chapman and B. J. Stone, the petitioners for 
the injunction, might be sued for damages for the loss suffered bv 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 23 I 

Mr. Montgomery, by stopping his work, Mr. Noyes said : '' Now see 
here, I don't care to be the subject of ridicule by you or anybody 
else; I am too old a man. What do I care about Montgomery ? Go' 
and ask him if he proposes to sue ; what have I got to do with him ? 
I want to have the public understand that I am not bereft of reason, 
by any means. The newspapers better be pretty careful what they 
print about me. I'm a respectable citizen, and I don't propose to 
stand any ridicule." 

Mr. Noyes, although well along in years, has never ceased to take 
an interest in New Haven's local affairs. In his younger days he 
was influential in almost every movement of citizens for the glory or 
benefit of the city, and the magnificent granite front Insurance Build- 
ing on Chapel street, opposite the Green, is a monument to his 
energy and good taste. The nomination of Erastus C. Scranton to 
the mayoralty was owing to the influence of Mr. Noyes. Mr. Scran- 
ton lost his life by being run over by some part of a railroad train on 
the New York and New Haven Road, he being at the time president 
of the company. A writer to a New Haven paper of June 10, 1888, 
in giving his recollections of men sixty and sixty-five years before 
the date of his letter, wrote: "The venerable forms of Jonathan 
Ingersoll, lieutenant-governor; John Hunt, trial justice; David Dag- 
gett and Nathan Smith, in knee breeches and buckles, powdered 
hair and queue, crossing the Green, were daily seen." While the 
question of removing the State House was being considered in the 
Common Council, a friend of the building furnished a newspaper 
with the following estimate : 

"Removing 50,000 loads of debris at 25 cents per load, $12,500; 
carting 25,000 loads of earth, to fill the site, $6,250; cost of grading 
and turfing the site, $1,000; total $25,750." Of course the writer 
had not interviewed Contractor Montgomery. 

The state of feelinor in New Haven at the time of the election of 
Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, cannot be briefly 
told. There were very many excellent and influential citizens who 
had voted against him. They anticipated the grief and bloodshed 






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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 






which would accompany a declaration of disunion by the Southern 
States, and when Lincoln was inaugurated, March 4, 1861. the 
inauguration being followed by liie bombardment of Fort Sumter. 
April 12 of that year, the people of New Haven were greatlv excited. 
Many of the citizens had been educated to believe that the Southern 
idea of the confederation of the States was correct and constitutional, 
and that each State was an independent sovereignty, with full power 
to say whether it would remain in the Union or not. There w'ere 
others who forecasted the loss of trade with the South, in case of 
war, and still others who declared that in an internecine war the\- 
would never point a musket at a fellow-man. So when on Monday 
following the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, by the people 
of that State, President Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 volunteers 
for the Union :irmy, to serve three months, New Haven was far 
from being a unit in loyal sentiment. The hrst time that the word 
" Copperhead " was used, was in an editorial written for the Journal 
and Conrir, by James M. Woodward, and it became popular 
throughout the North and was indiscriminately applied to all persons 
not in sympathy with the Lincoln administration. In derision, a few 
citizens had pins attached to copper cents worn on the lapels of 
their coats and the wearers found pleasure in calling themselves 
copperheads. But in time it grew (o be unpopular to speak openly 
against the government and the copperhead badges soon disap- 
peared. It is not within the scope of such a work as this, to detail 
all that was done in New Haven during the war. The most part of 
the Democratic part)- embraced the Union cause. New Haven 
patriotism became an energetic, li\ing thing, and enlistments for a 
regiment of soldiers was commenced. New Haven was chosen as 
the place of rendezvous of a second regiment, called for by the Gov- 
ernor. All was hurry and excitement. Fverything necessary for 
the soldiers had to be speedily prepared. Women were set at 
work making clothing in the Winchester shirt factory building on 
Court street. A building for a Home Guard was hired for a year. 
It stood on Olive street and had been used for the presidential cam- 



234 ^^^ HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

paign. Soldiers from out of town were quartered there. Other out 
of town volunteers slept on the Green at night or found shelter in the 
Slate House, occupying Representatives' hall, and other rooms. A 
large meeting of citizens, at Music hall, Crown street, at which 
Mayor Harmanus M. Welch presided, on the evening of April 22, 
was addressed by Rev. Dr. Leonard Bacon. Rev. Dr. Cleaveland, 
James F. Babcock, James Gallagher, Thomas H. Bond, William S. 
Charnley, Thomas Lawton, Charles Ives, Cornelius S. Bushnell, Ira 
Merwin and Rev. W. T. Eustis, and vigorous action was urged. Of 
the speakers on that occasion. Bacon, Cleaveland, Babcock, Bond, 
Ives, Charnley. Merwin, Eustis and Lawton are dead. The women 
of New Haven earnestly engaged in work for providing the soldiers 
with comforts and necessaries. They met in the State House and 
elsewhere and were very helpful. The State House steps were occu- 
pied by the speakers, who addressed large crowds and encouraged 
the people to fill up New Haven's quota. The First Regiment left 
New Haven May 9, after being reviewed by Gov. William A. 
Buckingham, the war Governor of Connecticut. May 10, the Sec- 
ond Regiment, under Col. Alfred H. Terry, left for the Southern 
battle-fields. Before going they were, while on the Green, presented 
with a set of colors. One company of the regiment was largely com- 
posed of members of the New Haven Grays. The Third Regiment 
of three months' men, came to New Haven from Hartford the 20th 
of May and went immediately to the scene of the war. The return 
of the three months' men and the immediate re-enlistment of most 
of them for a service of three years, will be read about in any of the 
numerous books and pamphlets which have been published since 
the war. The noblest work ever done in the State House was that 
of the New Haven branch of the United States Sanitary Commission. 
It was organized in October, 1861, Alfred Walker being its most 
effective officer. He gave notice on the loth that he would receive 
supplies for the sick and wounded soldiers, and on the 19th the first 
box was despatched. By the 6th of November he had sent 287 boxes. 
In the first year of the organization, 371 boxes of hospital supplies 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 235 

had been sent from New Haven to the Sanitary Commission and forty- 
four boxes to Connecticut regiments. In the second year of this benefi- 
cent work, the New Haven Soldiers' Aid Association was organized 
and occupied rooms in the State House. For three years, ladies of 
New Haven industriously labored in this relief work. All the towns 
of the State contributed money and clothing, as the organization had 
been authorized to act for the whole of Connecticut. Mrs. Aaron 
N. Skinner was first directress of the New Haven association and a 
large number of ladies were of the organization. Other officers 
were : Mrs. B. S. Roberts, Miss J. W. Skinner, corresponding secre- 
taries ; Mrs. H. T. Blake, recording secretary ; Mrs. Emily M. Fitch, 
treasurer. The advisory committee consisted of Alexander C. 
Twining, Charles Carlisle, Thomas R. Trowbridge, Alfred Walker, 
Stephen D. Pardee, Dr. Moses C. White, the latter being in this 
year, 1889, the medical examiner for New Haven, under the present 
county coroner law. His testimony, as an expert in the use of the 
microscope, has been frequently sought by the courts, in the trial of 
parties accused of murder. There was exhibited on the Green a 
chaplain's tent and some were sent to the chaplains in the field. 
The Chaplain's Aid Society or Commission was organized and fur- 
nished books and chapel tents. On the east part of the Green stood 
the recruiting tent of the Townsend Rifles, named after ex-Senator 
James M. Townsend, the liberal patron of the company. Other 
recruiting tents were established near it during the progress of the 
war, and Colonel Nelson L. White, of Danbury, commenced his ser- 
vice for the country as a private soldier and was drilled with his com- 
rades, on New Haven Green. His gift to Danbury, of a building for 
a library and reading room, has been of much advantage to the young 
people of that towm. August 21, 1862, the Governor having made 
it known that there would be a draft of men September 3 to fill Con- 
necticut's quota, the loyal citizens of New Haven made every elTort 
possible to find volunteers enough to render drafting unnecessary. 
Thousands of people met at the north portico of the State House on 
the specified day for the draft. A meeting with Thomas R. Trow- 



236 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

bridge, chairman, and Edwin A. Tucker, secretary, was organized, 
and forthwith citizens commenced to make liberal offers of money 
for volunteers. Joseph Sheldon, on behalf of Arthur D. Osborne, 
offered $15 each for two volunteers in addition to what bounties thev 
might otherwise receive. James Gallagher offered a Hke sum for 
one volunteer. Others who offered money were N. I). Sperry, John 
Woodruff, Thomas R. Trowbridge, Hiram Camp, and there were 
others. As the interest quickened, larger sums were offered. S. 'i\ 
Parmelee offering $100, and David J. Peck 350. The draft was to 
be begun at four o'clock in the afternoon, but as the quota was 
being rapidly filled, it was delayed a half hour, when N. C. Hall 
announced that the quota was complete. Wild cheers went up from 
all the people who soon thereafter dispersed. But a draft was found 
to be necessary. It was ordered July, 1863, that Connecticut should 
furnish 7,692 men and that a draft of 11,539 men should be made. 
There was developed in New Haven as in New York and -other 
places a hostility to the draft, and angry men walked the streets in 
small squads, threatening that there should be no draft. Some timid 
citizens forsook home and business and fled to Canada. Mavor 
Morris Tyler caused guns and cartridges to be carried into the cells 
at police headquarters and jDrecautions were taken to prevent rioting. 
These were dark days in New Haven. The draft took place in the 
State House, on the ffoor of the main hall. Col. Benjamin S. Pardee 
conducted the affair, his pistol being within easy reach of his hand, 
and distributed among the spectators were men having weapons con- 
cealed about their jjerson, but ready for use had there been an attack 
made upon the drafting officers. At this time many families in New- 
Haven were sorrowing over their unreturning bra\-e. The death 
of Capt. Jedediah Chapman, Lieut. -Col. Henry j\Ierwin, Maj. E. 
Walter Osborn, Col. Frank H. Peck, Maj. Theodore Winthrop, 
Lieut. Henry M. Button, Maj. Edward F. Blake, Capt. Addison L. 
Taylor, and many fine young men saddened the jDCople of New 
Haven. The heroic conduct of these men should be studied as it is 
found written by competent biographers. The funeral of Com- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 237 

r.Miider Andrew Hull Footc, after whom was named the First Grand 
Army post in this city, took place from his family residence, a large, 
white wood dwelling on the corner of Chapel and Temple streets. 
He died in New York June 26, 1863, of disease caused by his atten- 
tion to duty in the war. His services on the Mississippi river are 
on record in all histories of the war. There was public rejoicing, a 
national salute was fired on the Green and all the bells in the city 
were rung, on April 3, 1865, when news was received that Petersburg 
and Richmond, Va., had been evacuated. Sunday evening, April 9, 
came the news of Lee's surrender. The whole city turned out and 
spent the night in marching, burning bonfifes, listening to speeches 
from the Mayor and well-known patriots •^vho were visited at their 
homes. Long after daylight the rejoicing continued, those who had 
been marching and shouting all night appearing not fatigued. 
There was a great procession of citizens who called upon E. C. 
Scranton, Cyrus Northrop, Henry B. Harrison, C. S. Bushnell, N. D. 
Sperry, E. K. Foster, John Woodruff, Edwin Marble, William H. 
Russell and other citizens, who made short addresses of congratula- 
tion and expressive of the deep joy felt at the conclusion of the war. 
Tiie sky was illuminated by fireworks and the vast throng of people 
sung as with one voice "John Brown's Body " and " Praise God from 
whoni all blessings flow." An iron cannon was fired at intervals 
throughout the night, from the front window of the Journal and 
Courier^ and the heat from an enormous bonfire broke a large plate 
glass window in the jewelry store in Brewster's building, corner of 
Chapel and State streets. The second night of the rejoicing, can- 
nons were fired on the Green and all the bells were set ringing. A 
committee appointed to arrange for a grand celebration, performed 
no function of their appointment, for news of the murder of President 
Lincoln reached New Haven Saturday. Then New Haven went 
into deepest mourning, x^t noon there was a great gathering of the 
people at the south steps of the State House. It was the largest 
public meeting of New Haven citizens ever held. Rev. Dr. Leonard 
^acon prayed. Resolutions appropriate to the sad occasion were 



238 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

passed and there were addresses made by James F. Babcock, Rev. 
Edwin A. Harwood, James E. English, Rev. W. T. Eustis, Heniy B. 
Harrison, E. K. Foster, Ralph I. Ingersoll, Rev\ Dr. Bacon and Rev. 
S. Dryden Phelps. Mayor Tyler by proclamation appointed Wed- 
nesday, the 19th of April, for a public demonstration on the day of 
the funeral of the murdered President. The day was observed in all 
the churches and all business was suspended. The city was draped 
in black. 

When the President of the United States, George Washington, 
visited New Haven, October, 1789, the people appear not to have 
been so demonstrative as they would be at this day, should a party 
of western editors, or Sothern, the actor, arrive in town. He went 
to Trinity Church, Sunday, having arrived Saturday afternopn. A 
few distinguished men dined in his company, among whom was 
Roger Sherman, at that time Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives. He attended Rev. Mr. Edwards' church in the afternoon and 
he left town Monday. Mr. Edwards was pastor of the White Haven 
Church. The Legislature and the Congregational ministers presented 
him with resolutions. He came to New Haven again, November 10, 
1789, and left for New York the next morning. The Chamber of 
Commerce, which, as every citizen is aware, has done a great deal 
to promote New Haven's business affairs, has been in existence 
since April 9, 1794. Its annual dinners at Compounce Pond and 
the New Haven House have been occasions contributing to our 
harbor improvements and other things calculated to make New 
Haven respected by the mercantile world. Its present president, 
James D. Dewell, is the life and soul of the. organization. The 
Chamber stands in relation to the Common Council in a somewhat 
similar relationship as did the Jacobin Club, of Paris, to the constit- 
uent legislative body of France in the troublous period of its history. 
It discusses various measures for the general weal, and the news- 
papers report all their meetings. When in 1795, Timothy Dwight 
became president of Yale College, he wrote an interesting paper, 
descriptive in part, of New Haven. In this he says ; 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 239 

" The original settlers of New Haven, following the custom of 
their native country, buried their dead in a churchyard. Their 
church was erected on the Green or public square, and the yard laid 
out immediately behind it, in the northwestern half of the square. 
While the Romish apprehension concerning consecrated burial 
places and concerning peculiar advantages supposed at the resurrec- 
tion to attend those who are interred in them, remained, this location 
of burial grounds seems to have been not unnatural. But since this 
apprehension has been perceived by common sense to be groundless 
and ridiculous, the impropriety of such a location forces itself upon 
every mind. It is always- desirable that a burial ground should be a 
solemn object to man ; because in this manner it easily becomes a 
source of useful instruction and desirable impressions. But when 
placed in the centre of a town and in the current of daily intercourse, 
it is rendered too familiar to the eye to have any beneficial effect on 
the heart. From its proper, venerable character, it is degraded into 
a mere common object and speedily loses all its connection with the 
invisible world, in a gross and vulgar union with the ordinary busi- 
ness of life." 

Those who read this opinion from the departed president of Yale 
College, will perhaps think differently as to whether a burial ground 
ought to be a " solemn object." To many minds Death seems to be 
the best bestowal upon human nature, of all that has been granted. 
Even St. Paul, a few years before his departure from earth, expressed 
his wish to go. The greatest statesmen, merchants, poets, men of sci- 
ence, are apt at some time or other to indulge in the sweet reflection 
that there will be for them in some good time, a chance to be at rest 
in the cool, purifying ground, when there shall be no more experi- 
ences of the uselessness of taking medicine — of worrying about notes 
to pay in bank — of grief at the loss of precious loved ones — of anger 
at misrepresentations of personal conduct — of the pain of cancers 
and all other afflictive troubles — a time when, as the poet Poe said, 
" the torture of living is over at last." A very distinguished but 
none-the-less kind-hearted man, said a little while ago that he wished 



WHY THE STATE HODSE WAS EEMOTEB ! 



When Hartford became the sole capital our State House 
became an '* eye sore" to many people. Impaired vision ren- 
dered it impossible for them to behold its grandeur. 

There were 

Ili:usaiiis loss I;ss Dil M Fo:us ilike ! 

and thousands more who were troubled with error of refrac- 
tion of the eyes. 

Tie Stale House is Gone aM tliere Is Ho Eeiely ; 

but for those who could not see it as others saw it there is a 
remedy which will enable them to read its history, and as it is 
portrayed learn that it was a magnificent structure, and that 

can remedy all their eye troubles and repair or sell them a 

Watch, Clock, Ring, Jewelry or Diamonds, 

For Less Money, Quality Considered, Than Any Other Man. 

The Troiilile is witli Our Eyes, we Don't See Alike ' 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 



241 



health were contagious. Boards of Health have never 3^et found it 
s«o, or have never seen fit to so report. Grove Street Cemeterv 
contains the ashes not only of great men, as were Jehudi Ashniun. 
Leonard Bacon, Governor Eaton, President Clan of Yale College. 
President Stiles of Yale, Colonel Humphreys, Noah \Yebster, Ro^er 
Sherman, Eli Whitney and hundreds of men renowned for learniu'^-, 
patriotism, talent, wealth and various virtues, but were it located on 
Chapel, between Orange and State streets, it could never be the 
•• common object " suggested in the wMitten opinion of Dr. Dwight. 
who died in 1817. For there lie our young and good and fair, our 
little ones of whom we are told "of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
From a cursory inspection of the stone memorials of the dead in 
Grove Street Cemetery, the notion will present itself that New Haven 
could well support a true artist, devoting himself to the production 
of designs for memorials. He need not be another Canova, but 
monument makers appear lacking in ideality and copy too much 
from each other. The alunmi of the Sheffield Scientific School have 
had in mind for some years the erection of a monument to the 
patron of the school, after whom it was named. The idea was to 
have a tall and elegant shaft of bronze, with a hollow globe at its suni- 
niit, and inside it, an electric light to be forever kept alive, the light 
showing through the interstices of a Sheffield monogram. In front of 
some of the temples of Japan, lights are perpetually burning to com- 
memorate the departed. How very near to us are the graves ! 
It is but a little walk from the railroad station, where life is 
especially full of interest and activity, to any of New Haven's birry- 
ing grounds. 

The New Haven Colony Historical Society occupied rooms in the 
State House from 188 1 to the time when work on pulling down the 
building was begun. The society was organized in 1862. It has a 
library of about two thousand books and se\eral thousand pamphlets, 
besides a rich treasure in portraits and pictures of historic value, 
coins and objects which serve to illuminate the past. Should New 
Haven build a building for its Free Public Library, provision should 
16 



242 THE HISTORY OT THE STATE HOUSE. 

be made for the accommodation of the society, as it is and must ever 
be an educational institution for posterity. 

For nineteen days the Superior Court was busy, in the State 
House, trying the divorce case of Mary A. Bennett against George 
Bennett, a pill maker, of rather a jealous mind, hard of hearing and 
having the misfortune of being older than his wife, who was a beau- 
tiful woman and fond of company. She was granted the divorce 
and the custody of two children and was allowed alimony. Alfred 
Blackman, Ralph I. Ingersoll and Joseph Sheldon were Mrs. 
Bennett's lawyers ; Roger S. Baldwin, Henry Button and George H. 
VVatrous were Dr. Bennett's. There is a book in print, reviewing 
some of the features of the trial. The " doctor " was so enraged at 
lawyer Joseph Sheldon, who worked hard and successfully for his 
client, that he hired boys to parade the streets with large placards 
elevated on poles, and these placards had on them abusive allusions 
to Mr. Sheldon. The boys elevated these placards as high as the 
second-story window of the house in which Mr. Sheldon lived, so 
that members of his family might see them. This being a novel 
way of committing an assault, for which there did not appear a suffi- 
cient law of prevention, Mr. Sheldon went before a legislative com- 
mittee, at whose recommendation was passed an admirable law, now 
in the statute books of this Stale, which provides for a penalty for 
following, mocking or abusing citizens, by obnoxious printing and 
otherwise. The law has been found very efficacious in neighbor- 
hoods where scolding women reside, and also since certain troubles 
among workmen in factories and shops have broken out within the 
past few years, the men being restrained from calling each other 
"scabs," "blacklegs" and the like, meaning that persons so called 
do not consent to abide by the prices fixed for labor, by unions, 
leagues and associations. The courts have in recent years made it 
unpleasant for anybody to conspire to boycott a tradesman or other 
person, but a few years ago, when very zealous friends of the 
temperance cause were active in persuading people not to buy 
goods from any but temperance stores the art of boycotting was in 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 243 

its infancy and no one thought of prosecuting the boycotter. There 
are some associations in New Haven which have designated 
places for the purchase of commodities, the buyers having the 
advantage of a special discount from the prices of merchandise sold 
to persons not of the contracting associations. Merchants who 
make these special agreements do not like the matter made known 
to other buyers. 

in 1797 the Legislature granted an act of incorporation to the 
New Haven Insurance Company, which took marine risks. The 
Ocean Insurance Company of New Haven was incorporated, 
October, 18 18. The' Mutual Assurance Company started business in 
1 801 and became a stock company about fourteen years afterward. 
The City Fire Insurance Company was of later date. Its charter 
got into other hands than its founders and its business finally ceased. 
The Security Insurance Company was started in 1841. This com- 
pany has been profitable for its stockholders and has always enjoyed 
the confidence of the public. The Home Insurance Company 
organized in 1859 and failed in a little over twenty years, Gen. 
S. E. jVFerwin being appointed receiver for the creditors. The 
Quinnipiac Insurance Company, chartered 1869, went out of busi- 
ness in two 3'ears. The history of the American National Life and 
Trust Company, will be pretty completely'found in court records, 
to the time of its downfall, which was indirectly caused by a differ- 
ence of opinion between Benjamin Noyes and Connecticut Insur- 
ance Commissioner Stedman. In these days a great number of 
societies have departments of insurance for the benefit of the fami- 
lies of their members. The New Haven Steamboat Company was 
chartered May, 1824. In 1841 the New Haven Steamboat and 
Transportation Company was organized. Many citizens recollect 
when the steamboat Belle carried passengers to New York in 1840, 
for a fare of twelve and a half cents, competition at that time run- 
ning very high between rival lines. The New York and New Haven 
Railroad Company was chartered in 1844. The New Haven and 
New London Railroad Company and the New^ London and Stoning- 



244 ^'^'^' ffJSrORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

ion Railroad Company were consolidated in 1856. The New 
Haven and Derby Railroad Company was incorporated 1864. The 
full history and present status of either the New York and Air Line 
Railroad Company, the Hartford and Harlem Railroad Com- 
pany, and the New York and Boston Inland Railroad Company 
cannot be given in a work of this character, as their relation- 
ship to the New Haven Green and the centre of the city is 
apparently remote. The first postoffice in New Haven was opened, 
April, 1755. Luke Babcock was postmaster in 1768, but of all the 
different postmasters who have held the office in New Haven, it has 
been generally conceded by men of all political parties that it was 
never better managed than under Hon. Nehemiah D. Sperry, who 
was postmaster under seven different presidents, his long term of 
service commencing when Abraham Lincoln became President. 

The site of the North Church on the Green was granted to the 
Fair Haven Church and society in 1770. Now that the State House 
removal is a settled fact, the citizens who propose to have all build- 
ings removed from the public square, will find much to interest them, 
in the study of titles to sites on the Green or market place. The 
Center Church may have a valid claim to more land on the Green 
than is covered by their church building. New Haven made it 
known in an emphatic manner in 1831, that a college in this city for 
the education of negroes would not be tolerated. The mayor and 
citizens held a lively meeting and resolutions were drawn powerfully 
discouraging to such an enterprise. The committee who drew the 
resolutions were William Bristol, Simeon Baldwin, Ralph I. Ingersoll, 
and seven others. Everybody voted in the State House until 1853. 
By that time it was not always easy for the moderator of a city 
meeting to determine whether the person oft'ering his vote, had a 
legal right to deposit it. The compiler of this history of the State 
House remembers the disputes which used to take place between the 
challengers of voters, for both political parties. Amos Bradley was 
for a long time thought to be an exceptionally good challenger. He 
iiad wonderful memorv for faces and if he ever saw a voter once and 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 245 

was told his name, never forgot hi in. It is related that on one 
occasion, as Mr. Sylvester Potter was about to vote, he was chal- 
lenged. Hon. Ralph I. IngersoU was the counsel for the Demo- 
cratic party and he enquired: "Why do you challenge this man's 
vote ? " The challenger made reference to a certain record. It was 
sent for and examined, and Mr. IngersoU said : " Mr. Potter, you 
can't vote." The would-be voter replied : " Mr. Potter don't want 
to vote, but he's as good a Democrat as any of you." According to 
the record it was Mr. Potter's misfortune to get entangled with 
a shovel belonging to another man. Whoever, as an officer, had 
anything to do at the State House on election days was pretty 
certain to have something good for luncheon. The noon bill of fare 
oftentimes consisted of cold ham, bread and butter, crackers, cheese, 
bottled Scotch ale or English porter and apple or some other kind of 
pie and there were sometimes cigars. The counting of votes at the 
close of an election day was but a dismal business. Somebody sent 
out for a candle or two. Anything which could be utilized as a table 
was seized upon and impressed into the service, and the counters in 
the dim lig-ht and with their rude, uncomfortable accommodations, 
rather resembled conspirators cooking up a disreputable deed, than 
honest and intelligent citizens. Under these conditions there was 
great opportunity for cheating in the returns. Even long after there 
were a sufficient number of abolitionists to amount to a small party 
their votes were oftentimes entered on the returns as " scattering." 
So were returned the votes of ultra temperance men until there came 
in time, to be enough of them to represent a third party. A modera- 
tor who should in these days make a return of votes as " scattering " 
would be held to have but improperly understood the duties of his 
position. 

The great blizzard and snow-fall Monday night, March 12, 1888, 
is well remembered, and no mention would have been made of it in 
this book, were it not for the appearance of New Haven Green, 
which was made a place of deposit for the snow, which until its 
removal rendered the streets almost impassable. A full account of 



246 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

this great storm can readily be found in the newspapers published at 
the time. Many photographs were made of various snow-mounds 
and drifts in the principal highways. The hardship suffered by all 
classes of people, who for nearly three days were unable to obtain 
milk and other family supplies ; the enormous amount of work done 
to get rid of the snow at a great cost to the city treasury, are all of 
record. Not until Wednesday did the city authorities take active 
measures to put the streets in condition for travel. To Commissioner 
Sullivan of the Board of Public Works is justly due the credit for 
setting on foot the work of opening the streets to travel. He, with 
Aldermen Dickerman and Watrous, Commissioners Reilly and J. N. 
States and Councilman Fleischner consulted together. Commissioner 
Sullivan urging immediate action. As a consequence of the consul- 
tation, Road Inspector, or rather Superintendent of Streets Patrick 
Doyle, set an army of men with teams, to work. A hundred men 
were put at work on Church, Chapel, Orange and State streets. All 
laborers who could handle a shovel were hired for the work. Mayor 
Samuel A. York could not be found and the following appeal was 
made to the people : 

•' At a meeting of the Board of Public Works held at their ofifice this morning 
[this was Wednesday, the 14th], President Reilly presiding, it was voted to 
request all citizens to co-operate with the board in opening and keeping open the 
gutters and centre of the streets, in order that the fire department may have free 
access in the streets in case of fire, and that the melting snow may have free 
access to the basins in case of thaws or heavy rain." 

Soon, the carts commenced to deposit their loads of snow upon 
the east section of the Green. An enormous quantity was piled 
high and it made a very picturesque appearance. Long after the 
snow had entirely disappeared from the streets a great mass of the 
incommodity remained upon the Green. There were many tales of 
narrow escapes from death by being caught in the storm, some of 
which were not true, but hundreds of people escaped death on the 
Monday night of the storm by a very small margin. John Lally, a 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 247 

stone-cutter, was found overwhelmed and nearly dead at the corner 
of Liberty and Putnam streets ; John T. Kerrigan, chief mailing 
clerk at the postoffice, started for home at eight o'clock ^londay 
evening, going across the Green toward his home in Admiral street. 
After passing Broadway he became quite exhausted, and was rescued 
from death by three men who heard his call for help. Attorney 
E. P. Arvine, while on his way home (West Chapel street) failed in 
strength and was taken into the house of E. G. Stoddard. Letter- 
carrier James Gallagher rescued three young ladies — Miss Meehan, 
Miss Mamie Rourke and Miss Philbrick, on the corner of Cono-ress 
avenue and Commerce street. They were completely exhausted. 
A little girl found perishing was cared for at the house of A. ]\L 
Bohan on Oak street. Another little girl was sheltered at the house 
of Rev. A. A. Lathbury, of the Summerfield Methodist Church. 
George W. Buckland found Michael F. Donnigan in a drift on Mar- 
tin street, where he had spent his strength in a struggle lasting two 
hours. Teachers and children who were supposed to be lost in the 
snow, reported at their respective homes during Tuesday and 
Wednesday, they having found hospitality at the homes of different 
people. The police were tired out and many of the men were tem- 
porarily unfitted for duty. Famine was feared on account of the 
blockade of the railroads. It was the opinion of Vice-President E. 
M. Reed of the Consolidated road, that more snow fell for two days, 
beginning Sunday night, than had fallen in a twelvemonth in forty 
years. There were many stories told, after the storm, of wrecks of 
vessels off the New England coast. The steamboat New Haven 
made a landing below Savin Rock, West Haven, and some of her 
passengers battled their way through the darkness and storm, to 
New Haven. On their way they were kindly treated by Superin- 
tendent Wallace Ward of the West Haven horse railroad, who did 
all in his power to relieve their distress. From Monday. to Wednes- 
day undertakers could not bury the dead. On Home Place the drift 
w^as twelve feet high. On Chapel and other streets tunnels were 
made in the snow, from the sidewalks to the roadways. Many build- 



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7 HE HISTORY OI THE STATE HOCSE. 24') 

iiiiis were daiiia;ied. The courts could do uu bjsiiiess tor three 
days. Thursday morning the public schools were re-opened, but the 
great piles of snow on the Green were added to for some days there 
after. Th^ largest deposit was made just where the children sung 
on a beautiful summer day as herein before mentioned. 

In 1653 New Haven owned four cannon, two of w^hich were kept 
on the Green, the other two being located so as to command the 
harbor. At this time the colonists w-ere afraid of a Dutch invasion. 
In 1673, when a " Grand Committee " was authorized to have charge 
of military affairs, it was decided that New Haven should raise fifty 
one of the five hundred dragoons who were 10 be prepared to resist 
the Dutch. None of the troops did any fighting, as peace was made 
between England and Holland. Of the New Haven quota Robert 
Treat was major, Thomas Munson, lieutenant, and Samuel Newton, 
ensign. War was declared against the Narragansett Indians in 1675, 
and Captain Nathaniel Seely, a son of Robert Seely, of New Haven 
(at the time of the expedition against the Indians, a resident of 
Stratford), was killed. Under his conimand were sixty-three New 
Haveners. Captain Seely's company lost twenty men. From the 
old records it is reasonable to believe that the people of New Haven 
loved to fight Indians. The business meetings of the second com- 
pany, Governor's Guards, founded in 1774, were held in 1775 at the 
old State House. Their dress was a scarlet coat, wdiite linen vest, 
breeches and stockings, black half-leggings and rufHed shirt. Since 
1816 the New Haven Grays have had a continuous existence. They 
were originally called "Iron Grays'' on account of their uniform. 
The enlisted members held a meeting in the court-house on the 
Green, September 13, 1816, and elected these ofiicers : Sophos 
Staples, captain; Thomas G. Woodward, first lieutenant, and Samuel 
J. Hitchcock, ensign. There is a history of this company, written by 
Jerome B. Lucke, which can be read with much interest by all New 
Haven men. When President Madison was in the city, July 1817, 
the company took part in the grand review of the military. They 
had the right of the line in 1824, when there was a military parade 



250 J 'HE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

of ihe Second Regiment on the Green, and hardly a year has passed 
when the company did not appear there on important public days. 
They participated in the reception to President Andrew Johnson, 
and paraded at the inauguration of Roger S. Baldwin, governor, 
in 1845, "^^^^ have always been relied upon to do the handsome 
ilnng on all days of special ceremonial. Their members were the 
first to enlist in the war for the Union. For the three months 
cnmpaign, these were the ofHcers : E. Walter Osborn, captain ; 
Albert C. Stevens, first lieutenant ; George L. Northrop, second 
lieutenant ; Albert C. Hendrick, William W. Morse, George D. 
Sanger, Henry C. Merwin, sergeants ; William M. Blake, Charles W. 
Cornwell, Edwin F. Chapman, George F. Peterson, corporals. The 
National Blues were organized in 1828, and were a company of 
artillerymen. They had a brass six-pounder gun. At the celebra- 
tion of Washington's birthday, its one hundreth anniversary, in 1832, 
the Blues wore their hair powdered. They had the right of the line 
in the parade, June 28, 1847, when President James K. Polk was 
given a reception. The City Guards, organized 1861, had George 
A. Basserman for their first captain. The New Haven Light Guard, 
organized 1862, had for captain, Benjamin N. Tuttle. The Sarsfield 
Guard were organized 1865. The action of Governor Minor and the 
State authorities, during the period when the " Hindoos " or " Know- 
Nothings," were in the exercise of political power, in repressing the 
military ardor and patriotism of the voung Irishmen of New Haven, 
was signally rebuked, when, upon the call for soldiers to fight for the 
Union, many of them — the same men who had been unable to pro- 
cure arms from the State for their volunteer military organizations — 
enlisted and made a war record which has been an honor to New 
Haven and the State. In 1867 the Wooster Guard, composed in 
part of colored men who had fought, was organized, with Henry 
McLinn, captain. The company drilled in the basement of the 
State House at first, and afterward in the hall of the colored Free- 
masons on Webster street. It became a part of the National Guard, 
May 14, 1879. Upon its disbandment a new company was formed, 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 25 I 

named the Wilkins Guard, with Thomas J. Griffin, captain. The 
officers and men of the Second Regiment distinguished themselves by 
arresting a large party of men from New York, at Charles Island, off 
Milford, who were to enjoy a prize-fight. Many of the parties 
arrested were New York politicians and office holders, and for a 
short time the New Haven lockup was crowded with them. The 
affair created great excitement and has discouraged prize-fighters 
of other States from selecting a Connecticut town for a rendezvous 
for pugilistic encounters. Much credit was due to Charles S. Scott, 
the high sheriff of New Haven County, for his prompt action, and to 
Governor Jew^ell and Adj.-Gen. S. E, Merwin, Col. E. E. Bradley 
and Lieut.-Col. Stephen R. Smith, for this enforcement of law. 
Some of the New York aldermen were mortified and worried and 
pawned their watches and diamonds to secure temporary freedom by 
giving bail. They paid court charges and judgments with alacrity. 
A few of the prisoners escaped from the military, while on their wa\ 
to New Haven, and a few were improperly released from the police 
lockup, by a police officer, who gave as a reason the excuse that he 
and they were members of the same secret society. The police com 
missioners condoned his offense. 

The last person buried m New^Haven Green was Mrs. Martha 
Whittlesey, October, 18 12. Her remains lie under the Center 
Church, where also is the grave of her husband. Rev. Chauncey 
Whittlesey. More than a hundred and forty persons were buried 
there, some of the persons having been very influential in shaping 
the history of New Haven. It is believed that the bodies of more 
than ten thousand persons have been deposited in Grove Street 
Cemetery. Evergreen Cemetery is owned by a private corporation, 
and the day may not be distant when the city will take measures for 
the establishment of a public cemetery, charging no more for family 
lots and single graves than a fair price, after estimating the cost of 
land and improvements necessary. The remains of Benjamin Eng- 
lish, who was stabbed by a British soldier, while in his own house, 
1779, lie in Grove Street Cemetery. He was seventy-four years old. 



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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 253 

When the pulling down of the State House led to the removal of 
ihe few cumbersome wood benches in the old town hall, a aentleman 
found in a crack in one of ihem, a copper cent, minted by James 
Jarvis, authorized to make coins for Congress. The coin was made 
in New Haven, under a contract with the government. One side 
has thirteen rings linked together and the words "United States." 
In the centre are the words : '"We are One." On the other side is a 
dial, on one side of it the word " Fugio," and on the other " 1787." 
Below the. dial are the words: "Mind your own Business." The 
coin factory was on Water Street, near where are now the Sargent & 
Co. manufactory buildings. A man named Buell, who worked at 
making these coins, was afterward, with other persons, engaged in 
making cotton cloth in Westville. In Dr. Henry Bronson's paper 
written for the New Haven Colony Historical Society, will be found 
an account of coining in New Haven. 

At the time of this publication, there is pending a suit against the 
City Auditor, growing out of the first injunction to restrain the agents 
of the people from carrying into execution the vote of the Common 
Council, ordering the removal of the building. The destruction of 
the building disembarrassed the directors of the Free Public Library 
as to a site for the library. They therefore bought from Wallace B. 
Fenn the stone structure built for the Third Congregational Church, 
on Church, above Chapel street, the price paid being $70,000, or 
$800 a front foot. This building, after the North and Third Churches 
were consolidated under the name "United Church," was bought at 
auction by E. B. Bowditch and sold to the First Presbyterian Church, 
and the society sold to Mr. Fenn, afterwards buying a building site 
fthe Reynolds place), on Elm, below Orange street. 

The State authorized a lottery in New Haven in 1790. for the pur- 
pose of aiding the glass-making enterprise, which, however, does not 
appear ever to have been a New Haven industry. An old citizen 
remembers seeinir Gen. Hezekiah Howe officiating at the draw- 
ing of a State lottery on the steps of the brick (second) State House, 
the now venerable Henrv Howe, author of the "Historical Collec- 



254 ^-^^ HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

tions of Ohio " and other works, assisting, he being a son of the Gen- 
eral. It was Henry's part of the business to draw out the lucky 
numbers. 

There was an exciting affair on and near the Green on the night of 
March 17, 1854. The talented Homan brother and sister were giv- 
ing theatrical entertainments at Exchange Hall, corner of Chapel 
and Church streets. These were well patronized by the students of 
Yale as well as by people of the town. The students, by their free- 
dom of manners, had for a number of evenings been giving offence 
to the quieter portion of the audiences and considerable ill feeling 
existed between students and town boys. The evening before the 
occurrences here narrated, some students, sitting together, arose 
from their seat and while adjusting shawls, preparatory to leaving 
the theatre, were rudely requested to sit down. They made a pro- 
voking reply, and at the close of the performance there was a fight 
in the street, some of the students being knocked down. Their 
battle cry, "Yale! Yale!" brought other students to their rescue. 
There were about fifty students at the theatre, the next night. That 
trouble was brewing everybody knew. An alarm of fire, at the close 
of the entertainment, brought to the neighborhood about a thousand 
town boys. The crowd of young men outside, with yells and insult- 
ing shouts, dared the students to come outside. In the meantime 
there was passed around among them a written request that they 
should remain until other patrons could retire. Under direction 
of Lyman Bissell, captain of the watch, the students walked two 
abreast up Chapel street, the town roughs running along in the 
street and jeering them. When the line reached a point near where 
now is the great dry goods establishment of William Neely & Co., in 
front of Fitch's book store, the students were assailed with bricks 
and stones. Some were hurt by these dangerous missiles. There 
was for some minutes, a lively, running fight. Some of the students 
fired pistols at the crowd, A man named Patrick O'Neil, caught 
hold of a student and at once fell, stabbed to the heart by a large 
dirk, Two or three other persons had been hurt by pistol bullets, 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 255 

The students soon reached the college campus and disappeared 
within the buildings. The town mob was furious with rage. Some 
of them rang the church bells, as if for fire. Others went after and 
took possession of a cannon, used in the jDarades of the artillery 
company and after heavily loading it with gunpowder, stones and 
pieces of iron, dragged it to the Green. Captain Bissell, who endeav- 
ored to stop the rioting, was not heeded by the mob and he quietly 
accompanied the gun. When it had been placed in position to. bat- 
ter down the walls of the south college building, the discovery w^as 
made that the gun had been spiked. Captain Bissell had taken the 
only course left for him to take and he had done the right thing at 
the right time. Some of the windows in the south college were 
smashed by the mob. The mayor appeared on the scene and 
addressed the crowd. Toward morning the riot was over. The 
body of O'Neil was taken to police headquarters. He had been a 
barkeeper. There was a suituable official action taken and no 
officer of the law ever found out by whom the fatal dirk thrust was 
given. Very soon after the fall of O'Neil, a small party of young 
men entered a basement place of refreshment, on Chapel, a few 
doors below Church street. One of them had in his hand the knife 
or dirk. It was seen by a number of persons there. The young 
men soon left the place. They hastened to the college campus and 
stuck the dirk in the ground, pushing it down out of sight. As it 
was thought by the students that there might be arrests of some of 
their number, they called upon Alfred Blackman, the lawyer, and 
asked if he would accept a retainer from them. After he had 
learned the whole story he said that he would, and directed that the 
dirk should be brought to him. When, in a short time it was handed 
him, he laid it on a piece of white paper and with a pencil garefully 
drew an outline of its form, after which he handed it back to the 
students' committee. It is said that for years Judge Blackman car- 
ried that bit of paper in his vest pocket. But it was never needed 
in court. A young New Havener who knew something about the 
affray, was so apprehensive of being called upon to make disclosures 



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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 257 

that he ran away to New York, where he remained and acquired a 
large fortune. His remains are in Evergreen Cemetery. The feel- 
ing between the town boys and students was much strengthened by 
the quarrel bet\veen the two large political parties, with regard to 
allowing students to vote at elections. Democrats generally took the 
ground that the students, if allowed to vote anywhere, should vote in 
the places where they lived before coming to college. Some of the 
speeches of Democratic orators, were abusive of the college. On 
the other hand, the friends of a liberal education believed that 
the votes of the students would be intelli2:entlv cast and would 
hKt in favor of good men for office. These men thought the 
whig party more worthy than the other. While recalling this 
tragedy, another is brought to mind, although it had nothing to 
do with the New Haven Green. After two o'clock of a Saturday 
morning, November 3, i860, a party of young men who had been 
drinking in the " Temple," corner of Orange and Court streets, 
became involved in a quarrel with three students. George S. 
Stafford, aged about twenty years, was fatally stabbed by a knife 
in the hands of a student. He died Sunday evening. The 
three students arrested for the killins: were William H. McCullock, 
held for trial in the Superior Court and released under $3,000 bail; 
Nelson A. Baldwin, bailed in $2,000, and R. K. Belden, for whom 
bail was at first refused. The father of the young man who was 
killed did not favor pushing the prosecution against the young men, 
as he felt satisfied that the murder had been without malicious intent 
and connnitted in the heat of a combat. Neither of the students 
were finally punished. The two first named were discharged and 
Belden was allowed to forfeit his bail, amounting to $2,500. The 
Sophomores and Freshmen were having a quarrel on the college 
campus, Saturday evening, September 30, 1843, "^^ 'it-n tutor John B. 
Dwight appeared on the scene. He and another tutor undertook to 
come up with a few students who had broken windows in the north 
middle colle2:e buildinir. Tutor Dwig-ht caught hold of a Philadel- 
phia student named Robert Fassett, both, it was said, falling to the 
17 



258 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

ground. Fassett, with a dirk, stabbed Dwiglit in three places. The 
wounds were not at first thought dangerous, but tutor Dwight took a 
fever and in three weeks died. Fassett, who was at his home, came 
to New Haven vohunarily and his father, a wealthy man, furnished a 
bond of $5,000 for his appearance for trial. The trial was postponed 
a year and in 1845 ^^^^ bond was forfeited. In fact, the matter was 
settled out of court. In the State election of 1840, forty votes were 
cast by students. 

The State House, and particularly the steps of the building, have 
been utilized by the students of Yale for many purposes. The elec- 
tion of members to the Scroll and Key Society and to Skull and 
Bones weie somewhat similar in method. Self-stationed outposts on 
and near the State House steps were used to announce the names of 
the men selected for the honor of membership. At the close of its 
meetings the Scroll and Key Society used to march to the Green and 
to the State House steps and thence to the college campus, singing 
the song " Gaily the Troubadour touched his Guitar." The pow- 
wow custom was started about the year 1850, the occasion being the 
Freshmanic advance in college to Sophomoric dignity. It was always 
held upon the State House steps and the exercises consisted of funny 
speeches, songs and recitations. The pow-wows were attended by 
the Sophomores, who by cheers and ironical shouts of admiration 
endeavored to overwhehn the voices of the Freshmen. The fresh- 
men were provided wdth a big banger each, a tin horn each, and they 
made as much noise as they could. Sometimes the pow-wow^s lasted 
until nearly daybreak. The last burial of Euclid was by the class of 
1863. The students assembled on the State House steps November 
16, in the evening, and with lighted torches and preceded by the 
New Haven brass band, marched to a hall in orderly procession. 
There the literary exercises took place, the funeral procession start- 
ing for the place of interment late at night. There was a collision 
on the Green between the students and police in October, 1870, 
growing out of a violation of the city ordinance, which forbade kick- 
ing football on the (Jreen. There was great exasperation on both 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 259 

sides and policeman Owen Kelley knocked a Sophomore on the 
head with his billy. The hurt was at first thought to be such that 
the student would die, but he finally recovered. The students tried 
to have Mr. Kelley dismissed from the police force. There was a 
tie vote by the four police commissioners and as the mayor declined 
to give a deciding vote, the students were foiled. But Mr. Kelley 
did not remain on the force much longer. In consequence of the 
row five students paid fines and costs into the city court. 

The name of David Austin, which occurs elsewhere in this book, 
should be gratefully remembered. His labors in setting out trees on 
the Green and doing other w^ork for its improvement were performed 
entirely for the benefit of his townsmen and for posterity. Mr. 
Austin was born in New Haven in 1760, and he traveled in foreign 
countries. As a preacher, he is said to have been earnest and elo- 
quent. In a poem by Governor Livingstone in which there are lines 
in honor of this pious man and public benefactor, there is one which 
speaks of " his florid genius and capacious mind." He taught that 
Christ would begin his temporal reign on earth on the Fourth Sun- 
day of May, 1796. He built on Water, east of what was then the 
foot of Meadow street, a block of wood dwellings for the accommo- 
dation of the Jews, who, he fancied would soon be passing through 
New Haven, on their way to Jerusalem, which, according to scrip- 
ture prophecy, they were to rebuild. He died in Norwich, Conn., 
in 183 1. 

About seven years ago, the skirmishers of the Salvation Army, an 
English organization of which General Booth, of London, was the 
commander-in-chief, arrived in New Haven for the purpose of prop- 
agating religion according to a spiritually-military plan. They were 
soon followed by others, and their methods of arousing the zeal of 
the indifferent were novel and to pious persons of a conser\ative 
mind, rather objectionable. Choosing a public place, they marched 
thither, to the sound of drums and various musical instruments 
badly played ; they held forth in the open air and preached to the 
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Their captains, majors and lieutenants were as often women as men, 
and the salvation soldiers of both sexes wore a uniform. The pray- 
ers and exhortations of these people were of an extravagant nature 
and accompanied with shouting and gesticulation which struck their 
audiences as being highly sensational. Some of their meetings were 
held at Custom House square, on the corner of State street and 
Water, and they also held meetings on the south steps of the State 
House. They secured a headquarters or " barracks " on Union, 
north of Chapel street, where meetings were held in inclement 
weather. Boys and young men attended them, to have fun, and 
there was much indecorous behavior among the crowds of idle per- 
sons who attended their nieetings and followed the Salvationists 
through the streets. Their performances were disturbing to the 
public peace and Mayor Lewis was called upon to restrain them from 
making a noise in the streets and on the State House steps. He 
had considerable trouble to manage matters so that the disturbances 
on the Green and in the streets were made to cease, as he, in com- 
mon with all lovers of the state constitution and of the United 
Slates, felt unwilling to do anything which might look like an arbi- 
trary restriction of the freedom of religious meetings. After about 
two years of bother, the mayor positively forbid the Salvationists 
marching through the streets, singing their songs, pounding upon 
drums or blowing into brass instruments of music. As the mayor's 
orders were not respected and the city ordinances were not obeyed, 
the police arrested some of the " army '' while on the Green and 
locked them up at the police station. The/ gloried in what they 
felt to be religious persecution and put up fervent prayers for the 
mayor and police officers. One of the brightest and most persua- 
sive of the officers of the Salvation Army was Mrs. Captain Dixon, 
the mother of two children, who played a pair of cymbals, when on 
parade, and at other times sold copies of the War Cry, an organ 
devoted to the interests of the army. This woman afterw^ard, in 
company with two or three other persons, conducted a mission, in a 
building on Union, below Wooster street, and later a mission in a 



262 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

building on Chapel street, formerly the place of business of the 
New Haven Register^ which had moved into Crown street in 1884. 
The Salvation Army made but little impression of a devotional char- 
acter upon New Haven people, and after about two years' existence 
in New Haven, the members went to New York and other places. 
They made a few converts of ignorant persons. For the use of 
preachers who had no other place, the State House steps were 
found convenient in pleasant weather. When the famous Lorenzo 
Dow was making his journeys in this part of New England, he 
preached from the south steps. So did William Munson, whose son 
of the same name is at present an attache of Deputy Sheriff William 
B. Catlin's office in the Glebe Building.' So did John S. C. Abbott, 
the historian, whose powerful address on a topic connected with the 
war for the Union, was more of a political character, than a sermon. 
George Mundy, of Philadelphia, the hailess prophet, harangued the 
people from the south steps. In his own city he was punished for 
disturbing the peace by preaching on street corners. Judge Parsons 
of that city sending him to jail. Anybody who cared so to do, 
preached from the State House steps. Daniel Pratt, the Great 
American Traveler, occasionally paid a visit to Yale College, and his 
grandiloquently absurd speeches to the students were laughed at and 
paid for by money collected from his amused listeners, at the State 
House steps. Pratt traveled to all cities where there were colleges. 
Although a lunatic, he knew where to find profit from his eccentric 
talk and behavior, and he was an exemplar of a class of half-crazy 
men, found in New England villages sixty years ago, but who, owing 
to improved laws and better courts of justice and an increased love of 
order, have generally passed from sight. About thirty years ago, a 
man of this sort, named Terrell, and generally addressed as " Pro- 
fessor," lived a short distance from the east bank of Mill river, on 
the road between New Haven and East Haven. His principal 
hobby was of a mathematical description, but he had other fancies. 
One day when the Legislature w^as in session. Professor Terrell 
appeared in Representatives' hall, flourishing a sword with a curved 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 263 

blade. He was ejected. Have not members of the Legislature 
sometimes done things in a body, as lacking in decorum as the 
conduct of the professor ? For instance, at the session of the Legis- 
lature which ratified the fourteenth amendment to the United States 
Constitution, the representatives on a certain forenoon commuted the 
death sentence of a man named Starkweather, of Hartford County, 
who had chopped his mother to death with an axe, because she 
would not give him money, to imprisonment for life, and on the same 
day, in the afternoon, under no apparent new influence except that 
of a good dinner, they reconsidered their action and the murderer 
was finally hanged. In the case of a Fairfield County murderer, 
human life was recently trifled with in a still more shocking man- 
ner. Professor Terrell, when not agitated with some sort of 
invention or problem in mathematics, appeared sane. Once, he 
was buying groceries at a store at the junction of Olive and State 
streets. He was calm and sensible. Somebody asked him if he had 
any new invention. Striking an attitude indicating the necessity for 
caution and secrecy, he said, in a whisper : " Hush .... mum ! I 
can't explain this to anybody but stockholders." Two or three 
gentlemen present immediately subscribed for $100,000 of stock. 
This amount, the professor said, would be satisfactory to himself and 
Professor Olmsted of Yale College, who, in the mind of the pro- 
fessor, was always associated with himself (Professor Terrell) as 
joint owner in his inventions. Taking from his pocket a folded 
paper, which the professor said was a model of his new flying 
machine, in which he had just made a trip to California and back, in 
precisely three minutes, he further said that Professor Olmsted was 
negotiating for its sale to the government. He said that it carried 
many million tons of coal and the boiler would hold one thousand 
million hogsheads of water which he could draw from the clouds 
with a big auger and a funnel which he always carried on these trips. 
"Now," said the Professor, " suppose this nation was at war and the 
enemy were twenty million strong. I can boil all the water in 
thirteen seconds. Then I can sail in the air, above the enemy, pull 



264 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE, 

out the plug and they are all scalded, don't you see?" On another 
occasion, iii? paper model represented a three-wheeled wheelbarrow. 
" Hush . . . mum," he began. After a sufficient subscription to 
shares of stock was obtained, the professor explained that one wheel 
moved on its axis: one acted as a fulcrum and the other didn't. He 
did not expect ordinary mortals to understand the working principle 
but assured his hearers that this was the greatest invention that him- 
self and Professor Olmsted had yet made. A steamboat boiler 
explosion moved Professor Terrell to invent a boiler which could not 
explode, for he showed by his paper model that no boiler could 
burst, if the steam was all kept on the outside of it. 

All the windows of the police lockup were kicked out by 
a prisoner named Tom McCabe, when in confinement in the 
State House basement. During the time when the police office 
and lockup w^ere in the basement, a woman was arrested for 
street-walking. Later in the night a young man was arrested 
for intoxication. When he was released the next morning, he 
expressed a wish to talk with the chief of police. He was granted 
the desired interview, and with great heartiness thanked that gentle- 
man for having afforded him an excellent opportunity for social 
c^njoyment. Said he: "But for the kindness of your policemen \ 
should have become disgracefully drunk and I thank you much."' 
Said the young man, " I had no idea of the reputation of this place." 
The chief asked what he meant by the last remark and the young 
man said : " Why, owing to your thoughtfulness and kindness I have 
passed what would otherwise have been the weary hours of a long 
night, in company with one of the handsomest and most entertaining 
of women that I ever met." The chief recollected that he had in cus- 
tody a female who for two days had been furnished no food. She was 
discharged at once. There are hundreds of fine anecdotes having 
an origin in the State House. During the warmest of the season of 
controversy between the Whigs and Loco Focos, Eben Thompson, a 
New Haven grocer, made a journey to Florida. He also visited 
Mobile. He was a whig in politics and on his return to New Haven, 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 263 

was asked if he saw any whigs at Mobile. He said that he had. 
He further said that having had occasion to take a horseback ride 
through the country, he stopped at a hotel and asked for the land- 
lord. A good looking white woman responded to the call. She said 
her husband w^as in the garden. Mr. Thompson went to the 
garden but found nobody but a very black man, engaged in cultivat- 
ing watermelons. Mr. Thompson asked him for the landlord. 
'Tm the landlord," answered the black man. Being surprised, Mr. 
Thompson, on going inside the house, enquired of the woman 
how she could have demeaned herself by marrying a colored man. 
She replied, " I did much better than my sister ; for she married a 
Loco Foco." 

Admiral Andrew Hull Foote had a great funeral in New Haven, 
July I, 1863. The day before, .there arrived from Bridgeport, a 
battery of light artillery. At evening the steamboat Elm City, 
broupht marines under command of Lieut. H. ]. Bishop, who 
had been detached from the United States' ship North Carolina. 
Many military organizations and distinguished men gathered in New- 
Haven to pay their respects to the dead hero. At ten o'clock on 
the forenoon of Wednesday, the marines bore the body of the 
deceased to the State House, where it was laid upon a bier, in the 
wide hnll. The coffin, partly enveloped by an American flag, was 
metallic, covered with black silk-velvet, ornamented with silk tassels 
and having a solid silver plate with a plain inscription giving the 
name, rank and age of the deceased. The large double doors at the 
north and south ends of the State House were opened and a con- 
tinuous stream of people passed through the main hall until two 
o'clock in the afternoon, when the remains of the Admiral were taken 
to the Center Church, which had been draped in black. The six pall 
bearers were Admirals Gregory, (of New Haven), Smith, Stringham. 
Davis, and Stewart, and Captain Simpson. Revs. Bacon, Cleaveland, 
and Harwood were in the pulpit. Rev. Dr. Bacon gave out the 
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THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 267 

*' How blest the righteous when he dies ! 
When sinks his weary soul to rest ; 
How mildly beam the closing eyes — 
How gently heaves the expiring breast." 

The funeral address was by Rev. Dr. Bacon. The hearse, drawn 
by four horses, was escorted by a large body of military, under com- 
mand of Gen. William H. Russell ; the civic part of the proces- 
sion being under the orders of Benjamin Noyes, the chief marsiial. 
The route was, out of the Green to Chapel street, to College, Crown, 
Temple, Ciiapel, State, Elm, Temple and to Grove Street Cemetery, 
where salutes were fired over the grave. The whole city mourned. 

A trombone once served to deliver a worthy and popular fellow- 
ciiizen from great jeopardy, on the Green. John H. Phoebus was a 
teacher of vocal and instrumental music in this city for some years. 
He was amiable, jolly, short and fat, and a fine tenor singer. All 
the children liked him, and along in the " forties " he arranged for 
concerts in some of the public schools. In his day there were many 
blood-thirsty brindle dogs in town, of great ferocity, and unless with 
their masters, were liable to attack any citizen who came in their 
way. One evening Mr. Phoebus was crossing the Green, when one 
of these terrible dogs advanced upon him with savage intent. Mr. 
Phoebus had no weapon of defence except a trombone. With great 
presence of mind he blew through it an awful sound, and the dog, 
howling with fright, rapidly disappeared. The genial music teacher 
was afterward much congratulated at his escape. 

The last dividend paid to the depositors in the Townsend Savings 
Bank was disbursed in a room at the northeast corner of the State 
House, and the few dollars remaining unpaid were taken to the office 
of a broker on Orange, above Chapel street. There has been a 
great deal of adverse comment upon the management of the bank, 
by people who were not in a position to know or judge of the facts. 
There is little room for doubt that had there been no concerted 
assault made upon the bank, the depositors would have been paid 
every cent due them. A number of circumstances operated to pro- 



268 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

duce the failure, one of which was the depreciation in real estate, on 
which money had been lent, within the rule requiring that no more 
should be lent on any mortgage more than half the value of the 
property securing the loan. It was found that property, mortgaged 
for no more than half its value, at the time of the loan, oftentimes 
could not be sold, to realize what in a more prosperous season had 
been a reasonable investment. There were investments promising 
well, but which could not be recalled by the bank in season to pre- 
vent a panic among depositors after the raid on the bank had been 
inauo'urated. 

Luzon B. Morris was judge of probate for six terms — 1857-63. 
When he entered upon his official duties, in the court room in the 
basement of the State House, he found things in a sad state of dirt 
and disorder. Scattered on the floor were documents of the court, 
many of which were without any outside indexing, to give a hint of 
their contents or value. Many papers which should have been on 
file, were undoubtedly lost through carelessness. He had shelving- 
made, with pigeon-holes for the proper classification of the archives, 
and he was a year in getting things straight. His labors extended 
back among the records and files for more than a hundred years, 
and he made the first general index of papers. In 1857, when he 
took office, the only walk on the Green was of brick, in front of the 
churches. Later, a narrow flag walk branched oft, toward the State 
House, and prior to that improxement, ever3'body having business at 
the probate court, waded through mud to get to the State House. 
Judge Morris has filled with great acceptance a number of positions 
of public as well as private trust, and no citizen of Connecticut has 
a higher stand in the esteem of all the people. He was sent to the 
Legislature first by the town of Seymour, and he represented New 
Haven in the General Assembly, four times — 1870, 1876, 1880, 1881, 
and he served in the State Senate in 1874. He has also served the 
State as one of the commissioners to fix boundarv lines between Con- 
necticut and New York. 

New Haven people regretted the death of William L. Storrs, chief- 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 269 

justice of ihc Supreme Court of this State, who died at Hartford, 
June 24, 1861. He was a Yale graduate. In the House of Repre- 
sentatives his death was announced by Representative Carter, of 
Norwalk, who said, during his remarks : " But whether we consider 
Judge Storrs as a member of the General Assembly of this State; as 
an occupant of the speaker's chair; as a representative in Congress 
from this State ; as a professor in Yale College law school ; as a 
practical lawyer at the Bar, or as holding the highest seat in the 
highest court of judicature of this State ; in all these positions we 
found him realizing the highest expectations of him, even by those 
best acquainted with his great intellectual endowments." August 
6 of that year the funeral of ex-Governor Trumbull was followed by 
the death of his wife, the night of the same day. Mrs. Eliza Storrs 
Trumbull was a sister of Chief-Justice Storrs. The death of Mrs. 
Mary Beers, widow of Nathan Beers, occurred in New Haven, Sep- 
tember 5, 1861, at the age of ninety-nine years. Her husband died in 
his ninety-sixth year. They lived on Elm street, and Mrs. Beers was 
the mother of Dr. Timothy P. Beers, for many years the principal 
accouching physician in this city. William H. Jones, formerly post- 
master in New Haven, died in Hartford in November, 1861, aged 
eighty-three years. 

There are various anecdotes and amusing bits of gossip touching 
the old Farmington canal. A captain of a canal boat who had 
become offended at something done by unpopular Constable Skinner, 
had the name of the boat painted on its stern, " Dr. Skinner," in big 
letters. On one side of the bow of the boat he had a smudge of 
black paint, to represent the funny black spot on one side of the con- 
stable's nose. The debates over the canal enterprise did not all take 
place at the State House. There was one held in Exchange Hall, 
northeast corner of Chapel and Church streets. Professor Silliman 
was there to advocate another public loan to the canal company and 
Jonathan Stoddard was there in opposition. Professor Silliman told 
how that while traveling in Europe he had seen a railway train 
wrecked by a rail which had pierced the bottom of a car, tearing its 



270 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

way through the top, and cogently asked : ^' Who ever heard of such 
an accident to a canal boat ? " Mr. Stoddard enquired if anybody 
could tell him what the Fair street canal bridge had cost. Captain- 
Elnathan Atwater stood near Mr. Stoddard. Evervbodv knew that 
Mr. Stoddard frequently called at Captain Atwater's, to spend an 
evening in company with the latter gentleman's daughter. The Cap- 
tain asked a number of questions as to the cost of the different 
bridges over the canal. He finally asked the cost of the bridge in 
Orange street. Henry Peck answered that the bridge had been partly 
paid for by private subscription. Mr. Stoddard said that lending the 
company more money would lead to further loans and finally to the 
ruin of the city. Captain Atwater was greatly incensed at the 
position taken by Mr. Stoddard. He said : " You fool ! Do you 

come down to my house and take away your geranium ; I won't 

have you there again." This sort of argument was much enjoyed. 

The funeral of Maj. Theodore Winthrop, June 22, 1861, caused a 
gloom throughout the city. Arthur D. Osborne, a college classmate, 
went to New York, to accompany the body of the dead soldier 
to New Haven. There was a large and imposing funeral pro- 
cession in which were the Governor's Foot Guard, Major Norton ; 
Veteran Grays, Major Sidney M. Stone ; Emmet Guards, Captain 
Cahill (afterward Colonel of the Ninth Regiment) ; a company of 
cadets from General Russell's institute, under Captain Peck (who 
afterw^ard died of wounds received in battle) ; National Blues, Captain 
Bristol, besides officers of the City Guard, Home Guard and Horse 
Guards. The members of the city government and several hundred 
other persons attended the funeral. Winthrop was born September 
21, 1828, and died for his country June 10, 1861. In an address at 
the funeral President Noah Porter of Yale, said among other things ; 
" He was a descendant in a direct line, from the first John Winthrop 
who in 1630, conducted from England that choice and noble com- 
pany of immigrants, to which so many of the families of Massachu- 
setts and Connecticut have been proud to trace their origin." The 
dead body of Col. Noah L. Farnham of the Ellsworth Zouaves, was 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 27 I 

brought to New Haven Saturday, August 17, 186 1. There was a 
large funeral. He was killed at Bull Run and was son of George W. 
Farnham, formerly of New Haven, but then of New York. 

The judges of probate from 1829 to the time of the removal of the 
courts from the State House were : 

Charles A. Ingersoll, ist term, .... 1829-1834. 

Nathaniel R. Clark, ist term, . . . 1834-1835. 

Charles A. Ingersoll, 2d term, . . , . 1835-1838. 

Nathaniel R. Clark, 2d term, - o . 1838-1842. 

Robinson S. Hinman, . . . . 1842-Oct., 1843. 

Alfred Blackman, ..... 1843-1844. 

Eleazer K. Foster, ist term, .... 1844-1846. 

Ezra Styles, ...... 1846-1847. 

Eleazer K. Foster, 2d term, .... 1847-1850. 

Frederick Croswell, ..... 1850-1854. 

Cyprian Wilcox, ...... 1854-185 7. 

Luzon B. Morris, ..... 1857 

The first official record of a town meeting in the State House, is 
dated October 3, 1831, Col. William Mosely being moderator; but 
the annual town meeting was first held there in the same year, when 
William H. Jones was moderator and Elisha Munson, clerk. A par- 
tial list of tythingmen appointed at this meeting is given, that it may 
be seen who were some of the more respectable gentlemen of the 
town : Nathaniel Olmstead, Samuel P. Davis, Richard M. Treadway, 
William Dwight, Jeremy L. Cross, Isaac M. Hall, Nathaniel Booth, 
Stephen Inness, Thomas McCauley, Charles C. Rowley, Thomas 
Cummins, Obed S. Squires, Isaac Plumb, James Trowbridge, Guy L. 
Hotchkiss, Elias Gilbert, Joseph Barber, Newton Wheeler, Alfred 
Daggett, Zelotes Day, George Gill, James Punderford, Elias Carey, 
Rowland Winchel, Sidney Hubbel, William Jones, John Lange, 
Hezekiah Augur, Israel Harrison, Horace Peck, Willard Lyon, 
Lewis Morehouse, Richard Beach, Lewis M. Kimberly, Nathaniel S. 



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DEALER IN 



PICTURES, ART-TYPES 



-t-II5SIlItSxilID«EltM1IlI!S 






CANVAS AND STRETCHERS. 



IFx'axixes o± all ZE^ii^-ds inx 
Stioclls: an^-d- "bo Ox*ca.e3?. 



127 U]^IO>^ STEEET 



North from Chapel Street, 



NEW HAVEN, CONN, 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 2/3 

Jocelyn, John Skinner, Avery C. Babcock, Enos A. Johnson, Charles 
B. Lines, Jr., Marcus Merriman, Jr., besides twenty-live others. 

The action taken at a town meeting held January 6, 1844, will 
have an interest for thoughtful and observant citizens who are 
informed regarding the large sum of money paid every year into the 
treasury of the city court. The meeting adopted a number of votes 
regarding the duties of prosecuting grand jurors and among others, 
this: 

'•'Resolved, That inasmuch as the law imposing a fine for getting drunk, is pru- 
ductive of no good, but is often the means of taking from the drunkard's famil\- 
the last dollar and leaving them without bread and in that case, dependent upon 
the town for support, that therefore it ought to be repealed and some provision 
made for the temporary confinement in the almshouse, of persons found drunk and 
incapable of taking care of themselves." 

The resolution was not adopted in haste, for it had been laid on 
the table at a preceding meeting, presumably to allow sufficient time 
for a fair consideration of the matter. There was another vote 
passed at a town meeting in 1834, which shows that taxpayers were 
not wanting in sensibility: 

'■'•Voted, That this meeting disapprove of the law passed by the last Legislature 
entitled : ' An Act regarding Anatomical and Medical Science,' which authorizes 
the selectmen of the several towns to deliver over the bodies of paupers without 
friends for the purpose of dissection, and that the selectmen be directed to cause 
all such paupers as may die in this town to be buried at the public expense." 

The first New Haven directory was brought out in February, 
1840. In 1842, the office of the city auditor was at No. 11 Union 
Wharf ; that of the tax collector, was over No. 75 Chapel street ; 
that of the town clerk at the State House. The office of the mayor 
and city clerk was at No. 13 Exchange Place. The office of the 
street commissioner was in the Phoenix building. At this time there 
were flourishing a number of benevolent organizations, managed by 
women. Such were the Female Orphan Asylum, with Mrs. James 
Kingsley, president ; the Dorcas Society, Mrs. Joel Root, president : 
18 



2/4 ^^^ HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

the Our Society, Mrs. F. T. Jarman, president; the Beehive, Mrs. 
Anna Twining, first directress ; the Female Education Society, Mrs. 
Jeremiah Day, president ; Female Bible Society, Mrs. Timothy 
Dwight, president ; the Martha Washington Temperance Society, 
Mrs. Walter D. Smith, first directress. New Haven has been as 
remarkable for benevolent societies as its Common Council has ever 
been for its numerous committees. 

When we think of the time of the building of the Pyramids and 
the lives of the slaves that were spent in the terrible toil of the 
desert ; when we think within how comparatively a recent period, 
slaves were bought and sold in the good commonwealth of Connec- 
ticut ; when we read in a newspaper only a little over a hundred 
years ago, namely, June 15, 1763, such an advertisement as the 
following, the event to which reference is made, will appear remark- 
able indeed : 

" To be sold by the subscriber of Branford, a likely negro wench, eighteen years 
of age, is acquainted with all sorts of Housework ; is sold for no fault." 

For on a pleasant morning, January 3, 1870, the Green was 
crowded with the people of a once despised and subject race, who 
.vere gathered there, in holiday attire and looking happy and pros- 
perous, to joyously celebrate their more than magna charta — the 
Emancipation Proclamation. White citizens of the town were so 
interested in the great festivity of freedom that the Wooster Guard, 
composed of colored men, had great difficulty in preserving space 
enough on the Green for the evolutions necessarv to set the merrv- 
makers into line. The arrangements for the day had been made by 
Rev. J. F. Floyd. All things passed off in a most satisfactory man- 
ner. There was a fine dinner in the old probate office, in the State 
House. In the evening the colored people held a large meeting at 
Music Hall on Crown street. A noble letter from Hon. Joseph R. 
Hawley was read, and one of the first and strongest of the champions 
of human liberty — William Lloyd Garrison — pronounced an oration. 
Unlike the great leader, Moses, M^ho saw but could not enter the 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 2/5 

promised land, this abolition hero lived to see the end of his labors. 
Old Grimes, who until a few years ago was a familiar figure in New 
Haven's streets, had been a slave in the South. He ran awav and 
after great hardships found himself in the town of Litchfield, this 
State, where be kept a barber's shop for a time. He came thence to 
New Haven, and in his age was a successful policy player. This is 
a business which keeps all the players poor, except those who man- 
age the play. It is a game which has worked much wretchedness 
among poor and ignorant people, but no session of the Legislature 
has been able to produce a law for its suppression. Grimes was 
shrewd and witty. Asking alms once of Rev. Dr. Croswell, the 
clergyman, enquired : '' Grimes, why don't you work ? " 

"Ah, sir," said Grimes, "you and I know too much for that." 
The theology of Grimes was of a peculiar sort. Being asked one 
day whether he believed in the Bible or not, Grimes made answer: 
"I wouldn't dare to disbelieve it whether I believed it or not." 
The little houses built in different parts of the city, for the use of 
slaves who had run away from their Southern masters, have, one 
after another, disappeared. Within a very few years there was one 
on Orange, above Audubon street, the site being now covered by the 
dwelling of a wealthy carriage maker. Still later there was one on 
State, below Trumbull street, in which formerly lived a colored 
woman named Ellen Thompson. 

During the mayoralty of Hon. Henry G. Lewis, the city was 
presented with a fine lot of gray squirrels. Mr. Lewis took great 
pains to have them domesticated on the Green. He caused a 
number of wood boxes to be placed among the boughs of the elms, 
and for a long time fed the squirrels with nuts of his own purchas- 
ing. But they gradually disappeared, and many of them ran from 
tree to tree, up Temple street, and to the Hillhouse woods, and 
further into the country. It has been remarked by observers, that 
the woods of Whitneyville this fall, are greatly populated by the 
gray aVid other kinds of squirrels. One reason is, that owners of 
estates near New Haven, will not now allow hunters to trespass, and 



FOR PRINTING, 

TJSE 

ELECTROTYPES 



3XAI>E 15^" 



BARNUM£ WOODSTOCK, 

NEW HAVEN, CONN. 
83 COURT ST. 

One <riuality Onl.y Tlie Best. 

One IPr'ice Tlie Cheapest. 

Catalogue Illustrations, Book Plates, 
Newspaper Advertisements. 

787 CHAPEL STREET, 

Real Estate Broker, 

MONEY TO LOAN. 

All kinds of Real Estate 

Bought, Sold or Exchanged. 



THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 27/ 

ihe East Rock Park Commissioners prohibit the firing of guns 
within their jurisdiction. Many birds of various sorts, not seen in 
or near New Haven until within a few years, are at this time visit- 
ants at East Rock Park, from distant places. New Haven is in- 
debted to Hon. Lucien W. Sperry, for the introduction of the 
pugnacious and interesting English sparrows, who contribute to the 
comfort of the people in many ways. The progenitors of the vast 
number of these lovely birds, when first arrived in New Haven, 
were kept all winter in the tower of the City Hall, the idea being 
that if let out during hard weather, they might get their feet 
chilled, and so become discouraged and die. Sparrows raise three 
broods a year, and each brood consists of five birds. They are said 
to make good pot-pie. For an unknown reason, there are not now 
so many of them in New Haven in 1889, as in preceding years. In 
country towns, they are increasing in number. They are charged 
with driving away from the Green and all the trees of New Haven 
gardens, the beautiful robins, yellow-birds, blue-birds, wrens, phcebes, 
and other species of birds, loved by children, for their sweet songs 
or handsome plumage. But there are good things in sparrows — 
canker worms, for instance. 

Now that the reader has learned something about the State House 
it is perhaps worthy of mention that some of the timbers, under the 
floor of the basement, were found with harbor eel grass clinging to 
them. One of these timbers had genuine harbor mud sticking to it, 
besides the eel grass. It looked as it might have looked, a few days 
after having been taken from the harbor flats sixty years ago. 

Were this book written for any purpose except what its title 
imports, there would be opportunity in these closing pages, to set 
forth the superior advantages of New Haven as a place where can 
be enjoyed the very best religious and secular teaching ; where life 
and property are more secure than in almost any other city on this 
continent ; where the death rate is exceedingly small compared with 
other places ; where honor is generally established among business 
men ; where a man can entertain whatever opinions he please upon 



2;8 THE HISTORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 

any subject under the sun, provided he does not interfere with the 
rights of his neighbor; where woman is always treated with 
respect and courtesy, and oleomargarine is never sold as butter ; 
where the markets are plentifully supplied with wholesome food at 
reasonable prices ; where the streets are beautifully shaded w^ith 
trees and the sidewalks are level and safe; where every human 
being can enjoy his own, "with none to molest or make him 
afraid." But no such intention existed. True as these things are, 
it is nevertheless equally true that since the building of the last 
of New Haven's State Houses, changes have been going on, by 
which necessarily some of the old-fashioned joy and comfort of living 
has departed and very likely never to return. There are no more 
pleasant family picnics at Cold Spring, but there are factory whistles 
which signify a system of business not so delightful as in the old 
time, w^hen betw^een employer and employed there was no suspicion 
of infidelity to engagements. There were not any Jacqueminot roses 
\\\ shop windows, but plenty of marigolds and hollyhocks and tiger 
lilies in the gardens. There was cracking of walnuts by the light of a 
wood fire on autumn evenings, and there were high back-combs for 
the ladies. And there was doctrine ! Now, there are church festi- 
vals instead and the valuable pitch-pipe has long ago been super- 
seded by the tuning-fork, which in turn has been laid aside in favor 
of the more tremendous harmony of the big organ. 

Sixty years ago, strangers meeting on the highway, passed to each 
other a pleasant "good morning." There were no newspaper 
reporters to harrow the souls of people, with printed misinforma- 
tion ; but there were kind neighbors, ever ready to lend a helping 
hand at a wedding or to assist in making a shroud if needed. There 
was healthful 'lection cake, and a glass of cognac true to name, could 
be had for fo'pence. And there were heart-warming stories told by 
fathers to their children, of perhaps Joseph's coat of many colors or 
of the heroic deeds done at Cowpens and Ticonderoga. Never a 
beggar was spurned from the door of a dwelling-house and the charit- 
able woodyard on Church street had not become a social necessity. 



TkB kl STORY OF THE STATE HOUSE. 279 

There were men of whom to say that they were '' town born '' was 
tantamount to saying that they were willing to take office, if suffi- 
ciently asked. Small children did not steal and get sent to a big 
reform school. There were family Bibles in all houses and although 
cotton cloth cost half a dollar a yard and upward, there were soft 
homespun flannel sheets for cold winter nights and oftentimes flip 
and doughnuts before going to bed. Would our forefathers have 
been really happier, think you, for horse cars and electric lights.^ Is 
the soda water of to-day a better drink than the root beer into 
the composition of which went sassafras, spice bush and all fragrant 
herbs ? Do the broad, concrete walks on the Green look better than 
did the daisies and buttercups .'^ 

Patrick Henry knew of no way of judging of the future but by the 
past. But with past records open to view^, who can say what New 
Haven will be, when persons not yet born, shall be active in carry- 
ing forward the things of destiny ? 



THE END. 



THOS. H. PEASE & SON, 

102 Church Street. 

AOEIVTS FOlEl THE SALE OF 

"THE HISTORY OF 

THE STATE HOUSE." 



INDEX TO ADVERTISERS, 



Adt, John, Special Machinery, 

Andrews, IL L. & Co., Meat, Poultry, etc., 

Austin, Henry & Son, Architects, 

Baldwin, R. E., Real Estate, 

Barnes, E. N., Short-Hand School, 

Barnes, S. H., Meats, Poultry and Game, 

Barnum & Woodstock, Electrotypers, . 

Bassett, The John E. & Co., Hardware, 

Barton, The R. T. & Co., Balance Fount Lamp, 

Bell Telephone Co., Long Distance, 

Betts & Allen, Flour, Grain and Feed, 

Booth, B., Furniture, . . ' . 

Booth Meat Co.,. ..... 

Boston Branch Shoe Store, D. M. Corthell, Manager, 
Brett, Edward P., Builder, . . . - 

BuNDY & FiLLEY, Photographers, 
Chapman, John G., Hand Grenades, 
CowLES, C & Co., Tricycles and Velocipedes, 
Dewell, J. D. & Co., Wholesale Grocers, 
Dudley, A. E. & Son, Insurance, 
DuRANT, J. H. G., Jeweler, 
FA.RREN Brothers, The, Spring Beds, 
Forsyth, The Dyeing, Laundry and Cleaning Co., 

28t 



PAGE 
. 224 

10 

. 46 

146 

• 34 
252 

. 276 
166 

• 232 
174 

Front Cover 
6 

■ 130 

114 

. 82 

40 
. 98 

64 
. 16 

28 

. 240 

182 

. 182 



282 



Index to ADVEkrisERs. 



Gilbert, Lewis L,, Baker, ....... 

Hill, Trowbridge & Co., Bankers, ..... 

Hills, Ransom, House and Sign Painter, Paper and Paj^cr Hanging, 
Johnson, L. H., Horse Shoer, . . . . • . 

Johnson, Jerome, Pictures and Frames, 

JUDSON, John B., Fruiterer, ...... 

Kiesele, a.. Sign Painter, ....... 

Kimberly & Root, Bankers and Brokers, .... 

Leigh «& Prindle, Clothiers, ...... 

Loper, a. N. Co., Restaurant and Confectionery, 

Lynch & Goodwin, House Painters and Paper Hangers, . 

McNeil, V. F. & Co., Insurance, ..... 

Miles, John C, Tailor, ....... 

Munson, S. M. & Co., Family Pies, . " . 

North, John G., Insurance, ....... 

Parsons, Henry, Portraits, ...... 

Pease, Thomas H. & Son, Literary Depot, ..... 

Peck, J. C. & Son, House Furnishers, . . . Outside Page — 

Peck, J C. & Son, Furniture, ...... 

Perry, H. B., Carpets, . . . . . 

Phillips & Son, Sign Painters, ...... 

Peckham, John A., Bronze and Brass Plating, .... 

Reynolds, James, Brass Foundry, ...... 

Sheldon, E. B. & Co., Electrotypers, .... 

Smith, Hobert E., Shafting, Pullies, etc., ..... 

Sperry & Kimberly, Fire Insurance, ..... 

Street, S. H. & Co., Perfection Food Producers, .... 

Todd, Theron A., Real Estate, ...... 

Treat & Shepard, The Music House, ..... 

Tucker, B. A., Wood Engraver, ...... 

Ward, John B., Attorney, ....... 

W^ilson, Charles & Co., Insurance, . . . Inside Back 

Yale «& Bryan Wholesale Grocers, . . . . *■ . 

Yale & Bryan, Celluloid Starch, ..... 



146 
M6 



no 



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82 
252 
106 
206 

82 

5- 

74 

216 

256 

24S 

Cover 

90 

. 266 

64 

. 82 

130 

Front Cover 

. 156 

68 

. 276 

260 

1 22 

156 

Cover 

138 

. 138 



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NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



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